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.
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Sargassum threatens tourismJamaica, The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic are sought-after tourist destinations in the Caribbean and tourism is a major industry for these Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Unfortunately, sargassum can threaten this industry.
Sargassum inundations occur mainly on the windward coast of Saint Lucia like most Eastern Caribbean Island States, with occasional landings occurring on the southwest coast. This influences which assets are impacted.
Sargassum can collect on windward coasts in the Turks and Caicos, such as on much of South Caicos, Grand Turk, the eastern side of North Caicos, and the Ambergris Cays.
All of the islands in the Caribbean are in the target zone for where sargassum might wash shore, he says, with the Southern Lesser Antilles (which includes islands such as Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Margarita Island, and Trinidad and Tobago) likely to be slightly less impacted than elsewhere in the Caribbean.
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.
I had island tour guests visiting from Margaritaville over in St. Thomas earlier this week, and they said that the sargassum was very bad over there, and that makes sense. The winds here typically blow east to west, which means they are blowing directly toward Margaritaville, Sapphire, and the Ritz, for example.
In the Caribbean, seaweed season is generally May to October. The worst time for seaweed in Cancun, the Dominican Republic and much of the Caribbean is during the summer months.
This means that Cozumel continues to be one of the least sargassum-affected municipalities and maintains clean western beaches (different from the landscape of other Quintana Roo destinations).
Popular resort hubs, including Playa del Carmen and Tulum, have ramped up efforts to deter sargassum from affecting travelers. What is this? Both destinations have set up temporary barriers and hired more cleaners in an effort to attract more travelers.
Sargassum is nothing new to the US Virgin Islands. The first time I recall really seeing it affect the island was back in 2014 when it covered Cruz Bay beach. Since then, it has come and gone. You may have noticed it when flying if you like to look outside the airplane window.
A large mass of sargassum floats off the coast of St.Croix near Golden Rock, Christiansted. Rotting sargassum seaweed is clogging reverse osmosis intakes that provide drinking water for St. Croix, and customers are reporting discolored and smelly water on social media.