Press Release

Get ready to dive deep without getting wet! A new high-tech underwater camera has opened a portal to the wonders below. This sophisticated high-resolution underwater webcam is anchored 15 feet below the Fisher Family Pier, beaming back live, high-definition video, offering a real-time window into a hidden world teeming with colorful fish and fascinating creatures. Shipwreck Park, a not-for-profit Pompano Beach corporation, donated this high-resolution underwater webcam to the City of Pompano Beach in recognition of the City’s support of the Wahoo Bay project, located at the Roy L. Rogers Family Park at the Hillsboro inlet.

“We are thrilled to showcase the beauty below Pompano Beach’s stunning ocean waters, thanks to this innovative technology,” said Mayor Rex Hardin. ”We are very proud of our relationship with Shipwreck Park and are grateful for the incredible work they do using art and technology to raise awareness of how to preserve our natural coral reef systems.”

The underwater live feed can be viewed on the City’s website webcam page:

https://www.pompanobeachfl.gov/webcams. The new underwater webcam joins the City’s wildly popular beach and Hillsboro Inlet cams.

The camera rotates a full 360 degrees on its horizontal axis and 180 degrees on its vertical axis and can zoom in and out on items of interest, allowing views of an abundant and diverse selection of sea life. During daylight hours, the camera broadcasts live streaming HD video and audio over the City’s website. Viewers will get an up-close encounter with many varieties of fish and other underwater creatures and occasionally come face-to-face with some of our oceans’ top predators.

“This installation further affirms our mission of raising awareness about the importance of protecting our natural reef systems and fragile coastal shorelines,” said Rob Wyre, Shipwreck Park Chair. “This incredible viewing opportunity will further highlight the importance of protecting our reef and coastal resources for current and future generations.”

In addition to the new camera, Wahoo Bay’s partners at Florida Atlantic University have installed weather stations on the Fisher Family Pier and the Hillsboro inlet, sampling 11 different data points every five minutes. The weather information currently seen on the existing pier and Inlet cams is courtesy of the FAU Sensestream project.

The FAU research team will also use the video feed in partnership with Wahoo Bay. It will be viewable on the new Wahoo Bay website, which will go live in the coming weeks. The new site will contain weather data from both locations and feature its own underwater camera, which will be located between the SEAHIVES at Wahoo Bay.

The Shipwreck Park Mission

The mission of Shipwreck Park, a growing network of underwater conservation parks, is to use art and technology to raise awareness of how to preserve our natural coral reef systems. Currently, Shipwreck Park consists of two dive sites, both about a mile off the Pompano Beach Coast: the Lady Luck and the Okinawa, both decommissioned ships that are located in one of the most easily accessible major dive sites in the U.S.; and the latest project, Wahoo Bay, an educational site designed to provide an immersive experience for park visitors, especially young children, which will advance Shipwreck Park’s mission to raise awareness of the importance of keeping our oceans and reefs healthy and thriving in an entertaining, educational and memorable way.