Normally it starts to get bad in the spring/summer. It is already hitting in the Cancun/Riviera Maya area. It truly varies day by day. Below are photos in the Playa del Carmen area taken 1 day apart at hotels very near each other. This was shared by a Canadian travel agent who lives there.

This also happens in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean islands. Sign is from a resort in DR.

Yuck! We got to PDC in May… usually we go in October so fingers crossed.

Damnit, heading to Cancun on Friday.

We also went to Cancun at the end of last July on a last-minute whim and the seaweed was unreal. I have gone to Port A or SPI every year since I was crawling; I don't remember the seaweed ever being that bad on a Texas beach and there have been some crappy years here, especially in the 00's.

We did a cruise from Miami to Cozumel last July as well and it was carpets of seaweed from Key West all the way to Mexico. The western shore of Cozumel (facing Playa Del Carmen) was actually clean thanks to being sheltered.

We even had it some in the Riviera Cancun area in November. Not a ton, but it shocked me too. I just hate that it is starting so early this year.

Gonna be at Grand Moon Palace for spring break so I guess we will be mainly pool patrons.

So we were there in June. We never went to the beach until the last day (4 total nights) as there was so much else to do and I knew the beach wasn't great. The last day it was fine. The resort did a great job of cleaning it up.

With that said, on day 3 we went to Moon Palace next door just so I could get photos and check it out. The minute we stepped off the bus in the parking lot we were like "what the hell is this smell". I mean it smelled like I was standing inside 15 porto potties together at one time. Took me forever to realize it was the sargassum.

While they were trying to clean it up, it was just inevitable that they couldn't get it all. I think the main difference between the two is on the grand side, they have a bunch of trees in between the pools and the beach. Now granted, we did not spend much time at the pools right next to the beach, however, when we were up there, we never smelled it. We had eaten at some of the restaurants and never smelled anything.

The beach is never great there but hopefully the sargassum is f bad for you. I love that resort.

Uh oh headed to Zilara Cap Cana in July will need to keep an eye on it I guess.

While it can happen here, the location of the Hyatt is less likely than some of the other resorts. Zilara is on a fantastic beach.

JMac03 said:

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While it can happen here, the location of the Hyatt is less likely than some of the other resorts. Zilara is on a fantastic beach.

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Glad to hear that. Heading there tomorrow.

So the same travel agent posted this today. The top is 2 days ago (which I shared). Bottom is today a few hotels away.

Truly can vary day by day.

Many of you already know this but the Hard Rock webcam is a good resource to check out the conditions in the Hotel Zone (we are staying at the JW behind it next week). Beaches don't look too bad this afternoon.

https://www.hardrockhotels.com/cancun/webcam.aspx

Barrier nets for the win!

In all seriousness, while it is bad, it's not much of an issue if you go to the right place.

Any resort that wants visitors has barrier nets a couple of hundred yards out. Last year we had clear water and virtually no sargassum while next door they were hauling it off all day long (no nets).

Just be smart and choose the right place.

Got here today and plenty of seaweed on the beach with mats the size of basketball courts floating in, nobody is the water. I think the key is to stay on the north side of the hotel zone sheltered from the currents or the west side of Cozumel from February through October going forward.