About the Bellingham Bay Cam

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In early 1998 the Bellingham Bay Cam started with a $70 QuickCam and a retired 486 computer. This was during the time that BCS decided to host it's own web server so that the online inventory system, WebOPTICs could happen. For 2 years the trusty 486 and Quick Cam photographed Bellingham Bay from the BCS main office through the tinted windows of Clyde Duranceau's or Stowe Talbot's offices and posted the images to BCS's LiNUX and Apache based web servers.

As the Bay Cam's fan mail started to increase BCS was able to afford a small budget to get a better camera and outdoor enclosure.

The Bay Cam was then mounted on the roof of the ICE House, the highest location in our complex. The ICE sign was purchased in 1948 from an InsuranCE company that went bankrupt. For a few years KVOS TV also used Bellingham Bay Cam images on their morning news casts.

The current camera is a Axis 211A network camera and is mounted on the BCS main office. Usually the camera will be pointed directly South over Bellingham Bay towards Post Point and the Fairhaven neighborhood where the Alaska Ferry calls.

BCS also added a live weather station to the Bay Cam page. Stowe Talbot provided the original station which was a Davis Weather Wizard III, it provided many years of service on the ICE House roof until it broke down in April 2009. BCS then purchased a brand new Davis Vantage Pro2 which was installed in the existing location.

BCS's resident welding artist Jack Cammack made the Weather Station's sensors 'cactus' mount. Nice work Jack. Notice the anti-seagull crown the cactus mount sports.

Here's a close up of the Davis Vantage Pro2. A retired Windows XP PC communicates with the weather station and then updates the Bay Cam page.

Thanks to BCS, Jack Cammack, Stowe Talbot & the BCS I.T Department. They're the ones who've paid for, setup and keep maintaining and improving the Bellingham Bay Cam.

If you like the Bellingham Bay Cam, and tell us from where you're watching.