Two high-quality interactive web cameras have recently been installed atop the Five Finger Lighthouse in Frederick Sound north of Petersburg — one of the world’s most renowned humpback whale watching locations.

The Five Finger Lighthouse Society (FFLS) installed a similar camera earlier this year at the lower boathouse level. Now, there are two more atop the lighthouse: One faces north, one south.

The FFLS is a Petersburg-based nonprofit. All summer, the lighthouse is maintained by volunteer keepers, who stay in the lighthouse for about two weeks at a time.

The lighthouse was built in 1902. The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1984 and turned over the lighthouse — not the light — to the nonprofit in 2019.

The keepers give tours, work on maintenance projects and enjoy the scenic isolation of the tiny island — located several miles from shore in any direction at the eastern edge of Stephens Passage and the northern extreme of Frederick Sound, about 45 miles north of Petersburg.

Courtney Cox was a keeper from May 25 to June 16.

“(We) tidy up, try to keep everything here pretty natural, because it’s part of what makes this really beautiful,” Cox said.

Couple Irene Tresser and Chris Brown were also keepers from May 29 to June 26. During their overlapping time, the three did volunteer projects such as redoing the helicopter pad walkway, keeping paths kept for visitors and maintaining necessary functions.

The keepers are rewarded with the unique sights and sounds of Five Finger Island.

“There might have been 10 or 12 different whales around the island,” Brown said. “They kind of hang around, so that’s pretty entertaining to watch their fin slapping. … There were two of them a ways out, maybe a mile, not half mile out there, and they both had their tails up, and they’re just going back and forth with their tails.”

Now, with two webcams atop the lighthouse, these scenes are available remotely. There are a few steps required to utilize the cameras.

The app CamHiPro must be downloaded. Then, find the “Add a Camera” section of the app and scan the QR code for a specific camera. It grants permanent access to the camera. This must be done for all three lighthouse cameras.

Once the QR code is scanned and the camera is on the app, users can move the camera around and zoom in and out. The quality of the camera allows even sometimes to see into the water.

“Now you got zoom in, and you can zoom out, and then we can go left, or we can go up and down,” said FFLS president Jeff Erickson.

Erickson, board member David Dial and wife Lori Dial worked to get the cameras installed. David Dial specializes in electric work and put his skills to use.

“We’ve still got some things we’re playing with, but for the most part it’s up and running right now, the way we had planned it,” he said.

The Dials were keepers May 18 to May 30, and were able to get the cameras mounted, plugged in, and connected to Wi-Fi atop the historic lighthouse.

“The weather is obviously the biggest thing, but the birds nesting, it’s been super fun to watch, the cameras also have sound,” Erickson said. 

Fishermen and sailors can use the cameras to view conditions in the area.

“There are a few (other cameras) like the one at Cape Fanshaw. … It just does pictures and updates every 10 minutes,” Erickson said.

The opportunity for the nonprofit to complete this project came from the Petersburg Community Foundation, which granted funding for the cameras.