Sargassum Seaweed

[donnamdear]

We will be on the Harmony the end of May - is anyone having any issues with the sargassum on the Caribbean Island especially St Thomas and St Kitts?

[Tatka]

I am not sure this is still usable https://sargassummonitoring.com/

 

From what we saw and I see on line Antigua has a huge issues now. In March we saw it increasing in St Maarten.

[ARandomTraveler]

I was in Puerto Rico (actually Vieques) last week and it was terrible!!! By the end of the week it was taking over every single beach,  you had to walk through 10ft of it just to get in the water, and it was piled high on shore.
 

It didn't smell, but it completely ruined the water. When I flew over the ocean to get home, you could see huge brown swaths of it floating everywhere. 

[BennyandBo]

Anyone seen any specific Caribbean beaches doing daily clean up / removing of it?

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, BennyandBo said:

Anyone seen any specific Caribbean beaches doing daily clean up / removing of it?

Discussed last month:

 

If you search for "seaweed" other threads will also come up.

[BennyandBo]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Discussed last month:

 

If you search for "seaweed" other threads will also come up.

Last month is irrelevant. I'm talking up to date trip reports. More like how did they handle clean up (if any) last week.

[ARandomTraveler]

5 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

Last month is irrelevant. I'm talking up to date trip reports. More like how did they handle clean up (if any) last week.

I think for the most part, if the beach has services on it (resorts, beach bars etc) the sand area gets cleaned up in the morning, the problem is with the stuff that's still floating in the water. You can't clean that up until it's out of the water, and it makes the water a place you don't want to get into. 
 

The beaches I was at last week weren't developed so there was no cleanup, but from what I've heard from others that went to beaches elsewhere (in Florida and Mexico), those beaches got cleaned up every morning. 

[prmami]

Just got off our cruise and we did experience the seaweed in St. Thomas Megans bay, but in Barbadoes esp. Carlisle Bay , it was really really bad this past week. We didn’t notice it much on the other ports we visited.

[volk904]

Sometimes how bad it is depends on which side of the island you are on. Last year on St Kitts at the Marriott side it was a foot deep and the beach was no useable. They were using commercial track hoes to clean it. The other side of the island was not bad. At Saphire on St Thomas it was there but they cleaned it with rakes.

 

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

13 hours ago, prmami said:

Just got off our cruise and we did experience the seaweed in St. Thomas Megans bay, but in Barbadoes esp. Carlisle Bay , it was really really bad this past week. We didn’t notice it much on the other ports we visited.

But, but, but posters on Cruise Critic say it's no different than any years, nothing to worry about, it's a made up media story (do a search and read posts from earlier this year). 

[kruzerci]

The beaches in St. Maarten were unusable and smelled ungodly last month when we were there. It was piled up 10 feet wide and three feet high along a lot of the beach. 

[Daycare Provider]

Good Tuesday morning.  We just returned from a B2B off of the Voyager.  

 

Megans  Bay in St. Thomas was beautiful, St. Maarten the beach in Philipsburg was beautiful.. orient beach was gross, St. Kitts, the atlantic side of the island near the Mariott was gross. Barbados at Baths Rock Beach was beautiful... Greneda the Atlantic side of the island was horrible. Outboard motor boats couldnt launch from the beach area.

[Ret MP]

All the below are Live webcams screen shots from just minutes ago:

St. Maarten

 

Aruba:

 

Cayman Islands

[Ret MP]

Ft. Lauderdale:

 

 

Miami (Sunny Isles):

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Ret MP

[time4u2go]

22 hours ago, Daycare Provider said:

Good Tuesday morning.  We just returned from a B2B off of the Voyager.  

 

Megans  Bay in St. Thomas was beautiful, St. Maarten the beach in Philipsburg was beautiful.. orient beach was gross, St. Kitts, the atlantic side of the island near the Mariott was gross. Barbados at Baths Rock Beach was beautiful... Greneda the Atlantic side of the island was horrible. Outboard motor boats couldnt launch from the beach area.

This is pretty much what I'm hearing...it seems to be a mixed bag.  Some beaches are perfectly nice, others are pretty bad.

[Ret MP]

2 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

This is pretty much what I'm hearing...it seems to be a mixed bag.  Some beaches are perfectly nice, others are pretty bad.

Agreed.  But, I believe that a lot has to do with timing, too.  It may not be clear at 8:30AM but at 9:30 AM perfectly clear.  

 

I, often, go through the Caribbean webcams and note which resorts have a good track record compared to others, and which cities have a good track record to others.  I've mostly found, based on the available live webcams, that MOST places that rely on tourists do a good job of removing the seaweed.  Perfect, NO!  But, I'd say acceptable if you are patient.  

[time4u2go]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:13 AM, kruzerci said:

The beaches in St. Maarten were unusable and smelled ungodly last month when we were there. It was piled up 10 feet wide and three feet high along a lot of the beach. 

Ugh that does not sound good.