Sea
Coral and Kelp: 3 Live Cameras — Utila and Catalina
Two cameras on Utila in Honduras and one on Catalina Island in California, all of them underwater. Clarity of the water, not the weather, decides the view.
What you can see
All three cameras are underwater. Unlike a camera on land, what decides the view is not the weather but how clear the water is.
The Utila coral reef (Honduras) looks along the lip of a coral wall at 9 metres. Spotted eagle rays, sharks and turtles pass by. Utila is the smallest of the Bay Islands, and the largest reef system in Central America begins just past its white sand and turquoise water.
Utila coral (underwater) looks at the same wall from about 120 metres offshore at 8 metres down. This is the top edge of a wall that drops another 36 metres. Wrasse, sergeant majors and small shoals of trumpetfish go through.
Catalina underwater (California) sits beneath the pier of the Wrigley Marine Science Center in the Blue Cavern marine protected area. Eelgrass and elk kelp beds, the kelp forest where sand meets reef, and the deep water of the channel make this home to hundreds of species of fish, invertebrates, marine mammals and seabirds.
The two Utila cameras are on one wall, so opening them together gives you the top and the edge at the same moment.
Cameras you can watch now: 3
All 3 are live video. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Live video
Utila reef wall
Bay Islands, Utila · Sea · Wildlife
The lip of the same wall at 9 metres, where eagle rays, sharks and turtles sometimes go by. Utila is the smallest of the Bay Islands, with white sand and turquoise water and the largest reef in Central America right off the beach. From 06:00 to 18:00 local time.
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Live video
Utila coral, underwater
Bay Islands, Utila · Sea · Wildlife
An underwater camera about 120 metres offshore at a depth of 8 metres, on the top edge of a steep coral wall that drops another 36 metres. Small schools of wrasse, sergeant majors and trumpetfish pass. From 07:00 to 22:00 local time.
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Live video
Underwater at Catalina (Blue Cavern reserve)
California, Catalina Island · Sea · Wildlife
A camera under the dock of the Wrigley Marine Science Center, in the Blue Cavern Marine Protected Area off Catalina Island. Eelgrass and elk kelp beds, the seam where sandy bottom meets rocky reef kelp forest, and the deep water of the channel are home to hundreds of species of fish, shellfish, marine mammals and seabirds.
When to watch
The two Utila cameras only broadcast during the day. The provider gives the hours as 6am to 6pm local for the reef, and 7am to 10pm local for the underwater camera. Honduras is 15 hours behind Japan with no daylight saving, so that is 9pm to 9am the next day in Japan for the reef, and 10pm to 1pm the next day for the underwater camera.
Catalina is 16 hours behind Japan on daylight saving time. Noon there is 4am the next day in Japan and 6pm there is 10am the next day. In winter the gap is 17 hours.
As for season, none of the three providers names one.
Underwater, the clarity of the water decides everything. After rough seas or rain it goes milky; on a calm day it is sharp. Light also has trouble reaching down, so the higher the local sun, the brighter the picture.
If it isn't showing
The three also appear on the Honduras and United States pages. Sea cameras are collected under Sea.
For the sea in Japan there are The Kuroshio Coast and The Seto Inland Sea; for another underwater view, the rubbing-beach camera on Orcas.
On choosing what time to open one, see Which cameras are in daylight now.
Where to find Coral and Kelp
Agencies publishing the cameras on this page
- explore.org (Deep links and embeds OK, no image reuse) — Official site
The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.