Yes – this year's 2023 Caribbean sargassum bloom in the looks like it will be one for the record books, surpassing many other recent seasons.
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As the season moves toward summer, the density increases, and the belt shifts northward, allowing more seaweed to spread into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The amount of Sargassum declines over fall and winter. The amount present in March 2023 in the eastern tropical Atlantic was much larger than usual.
As annual sargassum blooms grow, their effects on Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic go beyond the usual tourist nuisance. The disproportionate increase of this algae is beginning to affect coastal life in general, from fishermen to visitors.
USF reports it remains difficult to predict exact timing and location for individual beaching events but substantial amounts of the seaweed are expected in May in both the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. June is forecast to be the likely peak of the 2023 season, but impacts are expected to continue into July.
Sargassum season in the Mexican Caribbean typically runs from May through October, with July and August generally being the worst months for its arrival.
However due to ocean currents, the amount of seaweed landing on beaches in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico in June and July 2023 was lower than expected. There's more good news! The sargassum seaweed forecast for September 2023 is minimal seaweed in the Caribbean Sea.
Palm Beach in Aruba, Dutch CaribbeanIt's one of the most reliable Caribbean islands without sargassum. While there are several small, boutique-sized hotels in Aruba, here are two of our favourite large resorts on Palm Beach and Eagle Beach.
Barbados depends heavily on coastal tourism and consequently tourism assets are impacted by sargassum inundations. Tourism assets located on the affected coasts are impacted sargassum inundations.
Varadero is actually on the Atlantic Ocean, not the Caribbean. Sargassum has never, to my knowledge, been a problem in Varadero. It is, indeed, a beautiful beach, and I would have no worries at all, on that particular score.
A giant mass of brown seaweed called Sargassum is heading toward North America. Experts estimate it is over 5,500 miles (8,851 km) long and weighs around 10 million tons. The seaweed is expected to wash ashore on beaches in the Caribbean and Florida in late spring or early summer of 2023.
2023 is shaping up to be a banner year for sargassum, a type of brown macroalgae now starting to wash up on beaches across the Caribbean. The thick dead tangled heaps of seaweed stink like rotten eggs and could cost many millions in holiday revenues this summer.