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WEB CAM CRAZE HITS COMMONWEALTH COAST
By Brian Mardirosian, CZM

Wouldn't it be nice if, from your office cubicle, you had a window to the wider world, a way to look out onto a beautiful beach or striking shoreline? Well, with the World Wide Web and the advent of the Web cam era, you do. With an estimated half million sold in the year 2000 alone, these ubiquitous video cameras hooked up to PCs are everywhere, broadcasting their instantaneous images all over the world. With this many electronic eyes out there, it's no surprise that some Web cams are focused on the Commonwealth's coast. Here's a sampling:

WEB CAM IMAGE FROM THE BEACHCOMBER RESTAURANT IN WELLFLEET. TO SEE A CURRENT VIEW, GO TO www.thebeachcomber.com/beach/.

• One of the most famous of Web cams can be found at the New England Aquarium. The giant ocean tank video camera is in the 200,000-gallon center tank, which mimics the underwater ecology of a coral reef. At any given moment, you may see sharks, turtles, or rays gliding past—and those are just three of the over 50 varieties of fish and reptiles that you might spot!

• The long lines of traffic down to Cape Cod during a summer weekend are notorious. Each year, the Sagamore and Bourne bridges handle an estimated 35 million vehicles crossing to and from the Cape. To brace yourself for the trip, take a real-time look at the traffic via the bridge cams that are provided by Cape Cod Online.

• The folks at the Beachcomber, a restaurant and bar in the town of Wellfleet on Cape Cod, have a Web cam facing east from their 3 ^rd floor. This is the only Web cam on Cape Cod that faces the Atlantic Ocean and is a must-watch when there's a storm!

• A rather unique Web cam can be found at the Fish Pier in Chatham. The panoramic camera provided by TeleCam Systems allows a "sweeping panorama from Aunt Lydia's Cove on Pleasant Bay, across Tern Island, along Nauset Beach to the ‘Break' at the entrance to Chatham Harbor." It's a great way to get a taste of a Cape Cod fishing harbor without actually being there.

Plenty of other Web cams are listed on the CZM site at www.mass.gov/czm/webcams.htm. Take a moment to visit the coast from your computer. If we are missing a Web cam or if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for the CZM Web site, please e-mail brian.mardirosian@state.ma.us.