Cancun beaches coated with thick seaweed
 

We booked our trip one month ago and this morning we found an article From The Telegraph news published on July 18 to the effect that the beaches of Cancun are plagued with 90 tons of seaweed.

Yes, i have been there twice in the last two months and there is an incredible amount of heavy seaweed. But in Cancun in the hotel zone they rake it up with machines at night so it does not pile up like it has been doing in the rest of the Riviera Maya.

Sadly, this is the case over most of the Caribbean. It's been bad since April and its not over yet. We were there in June and had some days of clear water and some days you couldn't even get in the ocean for the Sargassum.

Just experienced this is Belize, although it didn't impact anything, it was just at the water entry, then it was fine. We had this in Texas last summer, guess it is moving south...

It's been a problem all over since last fall, about the only places without problems are Isla Mujeres and the west side of Cozumel from what I have read.

Yes, it's true I visited in March and during end May and both times seaweed covered the beaches – at least it's only at the coast, and the beaches are still lovely despite the situation.

In Cancun it is better managed, I went to Playa Delfines. It was pristine.

Unfortunately true, there are plans now in effect to make fertiliser with the sargassum as it is apparently very effective in that application. The problem is that there is no infrastructure in place to pick it up and distribute as this is very costly. the bigger hotels remove it on a daily basis but many areas remain covered. Except for the eyesore, there is no danger whatsoever.

Bookmarking

There might be no danger, but the smell is pretty bad in many areas. The situation changes day to day.

Best activities in Cancun.
http://aquaworld.com.mx/paquetes/

You can always follow the plague here. http://webcamsdemexico.com/webcam-punta-cancun.html

I just read something about that. It is related to global warming and the fact that the seaweed used to hit the Texas beaches. Texas beaches are now clear of seaweed but are hitting the Mexican beaches.

I just read something about that. It is related to global warming and the fact that the seaweed used to hit the Texas beaches. Texas beaches are now clear of seaweed but are hitting the Mexican beaches.

This is the live cam at Akumal:
https://www.locogringo.com/akumal-beach-webcam
Looks like it's raining, but there doesn't seem to be seaweed, although the camera had been showing some earlier in the season.
This is the live cam in Tulum:
https://www.locogringo.com/tulum-beach-webcam
Rainy and you can see some seaweed on the shore, but considering the wave action, not so much.
Here is a live cam at a resort in Playa del Carmen:
http://www.playadelcarmen.com/information/webcam
Doesn't look like much seaweed on the beach. Not sure if the resort has people cleaning it up on such a rainy day.

I just got back from one month at my condo in Playa del Carmen. The seaweed has been bad all year, I have been there 4 times in the last 6 months. But there was a storm last Sunday, quite a bit of wind and rain for good part of Sat. night and Sunday, and on Monday the seaweed was pretty much GONE. Very little in the water, and nothing coming up on the beaches.

I stayed in Cancun hotel zone on Tuesday before flying home yesterday. Same there, seaweed seems to be gone. They did not have to remove anything from the beach, it was clear of seaweed. A little in the water but not much.

Very strange, maybe some currents from the storm changed things but no seaweed the last 4 days. Everyone is puzzled, who knows where it went, but it was great that it was gone!

One of the reasons that many of the Carib Mx beaches look better is because the Mexican government just spent 9.1 mil on sargassum removal. Unfortunately the money has run out for further removal.

As for taking the seaweed away, unfortunately the Mx gov recently squashed a deal that would have allowed a private company to take the sargassum away to be used for fertilizer. It was almost a done deal until the gov decided that they wanted a piece of the pie.

As said, many hotels and private citizens are working hard to clean the beaches and built seaweed barriers out in the ocean. They say that these barriers are working.

I just got back from Holbox, Isla Mujeres and the Maya Riviera. Holbox and Isla Mujeres had zero sargussum. The beaches that I saw in northern Cancun also looked clean.

Puerto Moroles had a fair amount - we had to wade through 5' or so to get to our dive/snorkel boats. I wasn't to bothered by it because I had water shoes on. Also there are some breaks in the stuff so you can get into the water without walking through it. The water seemed to be very pristine once you got past the seaweed on the immediate shoreline.
I didn't make it further south of PM but was told by dive instructors and others that Tulum is the worst.

I appreciate the continued updates on this. Thanks cybor for your recent post. This is the first I have heard of the 9 million dollars dedicated to sargassum cleanup being used up already. We are going ahead with our February vacation near tulum in a beach house. Sounds like we better be prepared for sargassum overload. One thing I have noticed even as of a couple days ago is that it does seem like the cleanup efforts in akumal continue. In keeping an eye on their Web cam early in the morning there is significant amounts of sargassum. By about 10:00 am it's pretty much gone. I have even seen men raking and bagging it in some of the Web cam footage. I was sure hoping this cleanup would be going on in soliman bay too. I won't hold my breath.