Sargassum Problem in the Caribbean

[VAWCB]

In today's Washington Post, there was a front page article on the problems created by sargassum (seaweed) in Mexico and the Caribbean. The article described it as "the smelly strip of brown algae fouling the white sands" used the word "disgusting", and quoted the chancellor of the University of the West Indies calling it "the greatest single threat to the Caribbean economy I can imagine."

 

I do realize that seaweed is everywhere and newspapers tend to overblow and exaggerate things, but am having second thoughts about my January 24 trip on the Eclipse to the Southern Caribbean. The itinerary includes Barbados, St Lucia, St Maarten, and Antigua which were all mentioned in the article.

 

Does anyone have recent experience with sargassum and is it a large enough problem to cancel the trip? Any insights will be appreciated.

[cb at sea]

I wouldn't cancel a trip because of seaweed! It comes in on the tides, or when winds/currents push it....can't be helped, and can leave as fast as it comes. There are HUGE rafts of it, floating in the Gulf Stream all the time...a storm or whatever can dislodge it and send it off course......

 

I swim to cool off...not just to swim...so as long as it's not sweltering, I don't really feel a need to be in the water the entire day....

 

If you're into snorkeling, and there is seaweed, there should be sea life, as well!

[wallie5446]

In today's Washington Post, First clue it was going to be one of those stories

 

 

is it a large enough problem to cancel the trip?

 

Hundreds of thousands of people have sailed and still do, it may have been 'enough' for a few, not for us.

 

I would pay it no mind at all.

[obnurse]

We cruised in late September and experienced seaweed on the Cozumel beach we were on. It wasn't great to have the seaweed but we would not have cancelled our trip based on it. The locals cleaned the beaches the best they could but it collected at the shoreline throughout the day. It really wasn't that bad, but that's just my opinion.

[GOLDENBONNY]

In today's Washington Post, there was a front page article on the problems created by sargassum (seaweed) in Mexico and the Caribbean. The article described it as "the smelly strip of brown algae fouling the white sands" used the word "disgusting", and quoted the chancellor of the University of the West Indies calling it "the greatest single threat to the Caribbean economy I can imagine."

 

I do realize that seaweed is everywhere and newspapers tend to overblow and exaggerate things, but am having second thoughts about my January 24 trip on the Eclipse to the Southern Caribbean. The itinerary includes Barbados, St Lucia, St Maarten, and Antigua which were all mentioned in the article.

 

Does anyone have recent experience with sargassum and is it a large enough problem to cancel the trip? Any insights will be appreciated.

 

Yes. Mexico affected badly . We had resort vacation in June and we could not use beach at all in our resort.. :o:mad: But its not like this in all places . We went for Turtle swim excursion and sea was beautiful. WE talked to people from other resorts not all of them had problem. I would not cancel my cruise because of that . I booked next cruise in Feb. with 2 Mexico ports :rolleyes:

[GOLDENBONNY]

I would pay it no mind at all.

 

Its not one of those stories . Its really really bad :( I will try to find pic from our resort .You could not go into water and you don't even see water . :eek:

I can not find my pic. but if you go to this link and check beach pictures yo will get an idea how bad it is.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g240327-d1176806-Reviews-Azul_Sensatori_Hotel_by_Karisma-Puerto_Morelos_Yucatan_Peninsula.html#photos

Edited October 29, 2015 by GOLDENBONNY

[Fouremco]

Its not one of those stories . Its really really bad :( I will try to find pic from our resort .You could not go into water and you don't even see water . :eek:

I can not find my pic. but if you go to this link and check beach pictures yo will get an idea how bad it is.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g240327-d1176806-Reviews-Azul_Sensatori_Hotel_by_Karisma-Puerto_Morelos_Yucatan_Peninsula.html#photos

I looked at the photos and couldn't see any problematic seaweed. I also read a number of the guest reviews and saw no mention of it being an issue. :confused:

[Rou-Dyliq]

I'm not one to let a little seaweed bother me BUT it is awful this year in Cancun. I could not actually get in the water on one beach there was so much of it. It looked like solid land it was so dense. But other beaches just a few miles away were fine. There was seaweed but not like that - just a bit of it washing up on the beach and not very noticeable in the water. I'm sure you can probably find a beach wherever you're going that isn't terribly bad but you might have to research the beaches individually and make sure you're looking at reviews or photos that are from July of this year to present.

[RICCruisers]

We've made 4 trips to Mexico and Punta Cana the last 2 years and seaweed was an issue in both. The resorts take it up each day but there were times that large masses of seaweed made it difficult to swim in the ocean. We spent most of our time at the pools and just walked the beaches

[Phxazzcruisers]

We were in Belize on the Placencia Peninsula house hunting in August and yes, the Caribbean was infested with sargassum seaweed. It smelled horrible and extended from the sand to about three feet into the Caribbean. It was a horrible bloom and was all over all of the Caribbean. It is gone now, you would never know it was there. It is not a regular occurrence, but has happened in the past. I would not worry at all about a trip in January. It will not ruin your vacation, and hopefully will not be there at all during that time.

[macaroni]

It seems to affect the east coast beaches mostly...were in Barbados last winter..it was bad but west coast beaches were clear and still are.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Seaweed does not always just wash in and wash away. It can pile up on beaches and stay. When we were in Barbados last spring on a Southern Caribbean cruise on Eclipse, I was amazed how sargassum seaweed clogged one of the beach areas we saw. It totally covered all the rocks.

 

We even have a problem on some of our South Florida beaches. It is expensive to remove all that heavy weed and some environmentalists say the good side is that the heavy tangled weed protects beaches from being dragged away in storms. It also supplies feed for birds that find small delicacies they favor in it. On the other hand a tour guide in Barbados told us the sargassum is smothering flying fish because it is so thick they can't fly out of the water. I had noticed far fewer flying fish last year than on previous cruises.

 

All this said, I would never cancel our next Eclipse Southern Caribbean cruise next spring because I am concerned about seaweed unless swimming in the ocean is a really important part of the cruise. I love that two week cruise each spring and I wouldn't miss it because of seaweed infestations.

[GOLDENBONNY]

I looked at the photos and couldn't see any problematic seaweed. I also read a number of the guest reviews and saw no mention of it being an issue. :confused:

 

:confused: Go to travelers photo - pool/beach area ,not for management photo.You will see how terrible it is. :cool:

[boscobeans]

We have been lucky enough to have been to either Bermuda or the Caribbean on 18 cruises over the past 14 years. The sargassum is our clue to watch for the flying fish. I doubt it causes them any problems as it is really a floating world of life where hundreds or species are born, protected and grow to maturity, this includes the flying fish.

 

It may cause a problem for some when it washes up on beaches but as can be seen in the following video it does a lot to preserve and actually form new beaches.

 

It is also used as animal feed and fertilizer but because of its importance to sea life harvesting it is regulated.

 

We will be looking forward to seeing it once again in a few weeks.

 

Watch the Video: Sargasso Teaser

 

http://www.alertdiver.com/sargassum

 

OMO

 

bosco

[CanadianDee]

The beach we visited in Costa Maya earlier this year had a great deal of seaweed - it is kinda nasty.

 

But there was a fellow clearing it most of the day and it didn't ruin our day by any means. We found once we got out into the water a little ways, the seaweed was scarce.

 

Edited to Add: Very cool information, Bosco. We will look at the sargassum differently next time we see it.

Edited October 30, 2015 by CanadianDee

[afto]

We have been lucky enough to have been to either Bermuda or the Caribbean on 18 cruises over the past 14 years. The sargassum is our clue to watch for the flying fish. I doubt it causes them any problems as it is really a floating world of life where hundreds or species are born, protected and grow to maturity, this includes the flying fish.

 

It may cause a problem for some when it washes up on beaches but as can be seen in the following video it does a lot to preserve and actually form new beaches.

 

It is also used as animal feed and fertilizer but because of its importance to sea life harvesting it is regulated.

 

We will be looking forward to seeing it once again in a few weeks.

 

Watch the Video: Sargasso Teaser

 

http://www.alertdiver.com/sargassum

 

OMO

 

bosco

 

Thanks for posting, bosco. Very interesting.

[A Sixth?]

A little seaweed .... ah shucks...

 

A whack load of jelly fish... that's a different story :eek:

 

 

[Fouremco]

:confused: Go to travelers photo - pool/beach area ,not for management photo.You will see how terrible it is. :cool:

Thanks, I missed that with the originally provided link. Still, I've lived for many years by the sea, both in England and in Nova Scotia, and seaweed simply isn't something that bothers me. I spend a lot of time on, in and under the water and seaweed is just part of the maritime environment. It might not leave the beach looking quite as pretty as in the travel brochures, but it's all part of nature. :)

[POA1]

For what it's worth, seaweed blooms along the Florida coast are often left in place along the beach during sea turtle breeding season. That's a May through October thing here. I'm not sure why that rates a travel warning from the Post. Maybe they think that December along the Potomac is vacation paradise? I don't think that they hate sea turtles. ;)

[WestLakeGirl]

A cruise is so much more than beaches, you would miss the entertainment, the food, the service, the sea days, don't cancel the cruise because of sargassum

[cyntil8ing]

One of the things I most looked forward to for our August cruise departing from San Juan was the Bio Bay excursion the night before we left. Unfortunately, it was canceled due to seaweed in the Bio Bay.

 

Then, our itinerary changed twice because of a hurricane and a tropical storm. We visited only one of the scheduled stops, then got three new ones. We still had a fantastic time. We booked the same cruise next year to try again.

[cruza]

In today's Washington Post, there was a front page article on the problems created by sargassum (seaweed) in Mexico and the Caribbean.

 

I do realize that seaweed is everywhere and newspapers tend to overblow and exaggerate things, but am having second thoughts about my January 24 trip on the Eclipse to the Southern Caribbean. The itinerary includes Barbados, St Lucia, St Maarten, and Antigua which were all mentioned in the article.

 

Does anyone have recent experience with sargassum and is it a large enough problem to cancel the trip? Any insights will be appreciated.

 

We just returned from cruise with stops in St Maarten and Tortola and we saw no seeweed. We saw big piles of it on Orient beach St Maarten December of last year.

[pinkrosesdeb]

When I first saw this post I really thought someone had a spelling problem! Made me laugh...thanks for that. Living in Florida we are used to periods of heavy seaweed. Luckily, it doesn't usually last very long. I would not cancel a cruise because there is a very good chance it will be gone before you get there.

[keithm]

In today's Washington Post, there was a front page article on the problems created by sargassum (seaweed) in Mexico and the Caribbean. The article described it as "the smelly strip of brown algae fouling the white sands" used the word "disgusting", and quoted the chancellor of the University of the West Indies calling it "the greatest single threat to the Caribbean economy I can imagine."

 

I do realize that seaweed is everywhere and newspapers tend to overblow and exaggerate things, but am having second thoughts about my January 24 trip on the Eclipse to the Southern Caribbean. The itinerary includes Barbados, St Lucia, St Maarten, and Antigua which were all mentioned in the article.

 

Does anyone have recent experience with sargassum and is it a large enough problem to cancel the trip? Any insights will be appreciated.

Saragassum is not like brown Algae. That must be something else.