Tourists Complaining About High Sargassum Levels In Playa Del Carmen

Last Updated 7 months ago

Travelers to Playa del Carmen are fed up and have simply had enough.

Enough issues with the high levels of sargassum on the beach and in the waters that is.

They recently have taken to social media to express their displeasure with the amount of the stinky brown seaweed hanging around the water and on the shores of the popular beach resort destination.

Efforts Made to Remove Sargassum

The sargassum levels are so bad on the beaches of Playa del Carmen that it is having a negative experience for beachgoers looking to enjoy some sun, sand and surf during their vacation getaway to the Mexican Caribbean.

However, tourists do not blame the government for the amount of sargassum on local beaches.

According to reports on the issue, municipal and state officials are working diligently to remove the sargassum as it arrives on the beach.

Pictures and videos on social media show the workers working hard to remove the sargassum from the beach and the water.

They even are using large construction style machines to quickly try to remove the sargassum in bulk.

However, as much as they remove from the shores of Playa del Carmen, more is instantly arriving to be removed.

According to social media accounts, little progress is being made by the hard workers trying to keep the beaches clean for tourists on their vacation getaway to the Mexican Caribbean hotspot.

Excessive Amount of Sargassum

The problem is that there simply is an excessive amount of sargassum washing up on the beaches of Playa del Carmen.

Earlier in the season, weather researchers in Mexico located a large patch of sargassum offshore that was heading towards the popular travel hotspots in the Mexican Caribbean.

They believe that the large amount of sargassum is directly connected to the El Niño phenomenon with warmer than usual ocean water contributing to the unusually large amount of growth of the seaweed.

Calling out the Navy

This is such an issue throughout the Mexican Caribbean this year that the Mexican Navy has been deployed to address the issue.

They have a number of boats, weather forecasters, and actual naval troops working on the issue on the ground and on the seas.

They are also in the process of installing sargassum barriers off the coast of the Mexican Caribbean to help slow the flow of the seaweed headed toward the shore.

The Hotel Association of Cancún, Puerto Morelos, and Isla Mujeres recently announced that some of the resorts and hotels in Cancun and the Mexican Caribbean additionally have hired up to 300 workers per hotel property to remove the sargassum and keep the beaches as clean as possible for visitors enjoying their beach vacation.

What Travelers Need to Know

While the sight of sargassum on the beaches of Playa del Carmen and other tourist hotspots in the Mexican Caribbean is unsightly, visitors should know that the state and municipal governments are working diligently to make sure that as much as possible is removed in a timely basis.

Sargassum that is not removed results in a smelly mess that also attracts a number of flies. That’s an even worse beach resort experience for travelers.

While it might appear that the sargassum is not being cleaned fast enough, the fact is that the amount of seaweed floating on the shore currently exceeds the capability of the cleaning crews to collect and dispose of the sargassum.

Unfortunately, the predictions of the amount of sargassum washing up on the shores are not expected to drop any time soon.

Hopefully, the deployed sargassum barriers will start to reduce the amount affecting the tourist experience.

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