Tulum’s beaches are seeing much less sargassum than in 2023, locals and vendors have reported.
According to Bartolo Canché, an aquatic tour seller, last year the destination started receiving large amounts of sargassum from the very first weeks of January. This year, instead, residents have just started to spot small amounts of the algae on the beaches.
This might mean the sargassum arrival season wouldn’t be too disastrous in 2024.
Photo updates from our seaweed reporting FB group also confirm less sargassum in Tulum in 2024.
For his part, Josué Hernández, a ship captain, said sargassum has become an issue on the Caribbean beaches in recent years. The algae negatively affects local economy as fewer international and local tourists are eager to visit the destination, he says.
Nevertheless, he’s confident authorities will take the right steps to ensure Tulum beaches are clean over the Easter holidays, which is one of the most important tourism seasons in the country.
Sargassum Monitoring Network of Quintana Roo keeps track of 10 beaches in Tulum. To date, five of them are under “yellow traffic-light alert,” meaning there’s a “moderate” sargassum arrival. The other five report “low-presence” of the algae.
This can soon change though. Last week, the Secretary of the Navy officially announced the start of the sargassum arrival season in the territory.
But don’t get alarmed yet. It doesn’t mean your holidays are ruined. Everything suggests that this year sargassum arrival won’t be as concerning as it has been in previous years.
Statistics support this claim. In the first 2.5 months of 2024, the country saw a massive reduction of sargassum when compared to 2023.
Apparently, low temperatures in the ocean are preventing the algae from reproducing uncontrollably.
By mid-March, Solidaridad had collected 1,084 tons of sargassum, 800 tons less than in 2023, stated Lourdes Várguez Ocampo, Secretary of Sustainable Environment and Climate Change of Solidaridad.
Beachgoers have been actively reporting on Facebook groups, official websites, and webcam livestreams about the cleaning conditions of beaches across the Mexican Caribbean. So far, the consensus is that beaches are cleaner than they were in previous years.
It doesn’t hurt that resorts in Tulum and other destinations have hired their own crew to keep their beaches pristine.
As a tourist, keep informed about the changing conditions on local beaches. A beach you want to visit can be dirty today, but it can definitely be clean tomorrow. This happens because authorities are working tirelessly to ensure the destination can offer some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean this season.