The webcam provides live coverage of Fort Myers Beach, a city located on the northern tip of Estero Island in Lee County, Florida, USA.
This Gulf of Mexico city is accessible from the mainland via the Estero Bay Bridge and is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area in Florida. Fort Myers Beach was officially incorporated on December 31, 1995, and has a population of 5,582 as of the 2020 Census.
Historically, Estero Island, on which Fort Myers Beach is located, was inhabited by the Calusa Indians approximately 2,000 years ago.
The Calusa Indians were able to successfully resist Spanish colonizers, including Ponce de Leon in 1513 and 1521. However, over the next 150 years they faced disease, war, and political and economic turmoil, leading to their extinction. In the mid to late 18th century, Cuban fishermen began to settle in a small fishing village known as Ranchero, displacing the remaining Calusa. Florida became the 27th US state in 1845.