Typically, sargassum season starts in Cancun in April, but sometimes it arrives as early as February.
Travelers visiting the destination over the next couple of months, though, will undoubtedly welcome the news that this is not the case this year.
The beaches are expected to be in perfect condition all the way until April.
Why Cancun Is Getting A Break From Sargassum
There are a couple of reasons for Cancun getting a bit of a break from sargassum early in the year this year.
One reason is that Cancun has a new winning strategy for keeping sargassum at bay.
Find out what they’re doing to manage sargassum, why it’s not as bad right now, and learn more about what it is and why Cancun visitors dislike it so much.
4 Ways Cancun Is Addressing The Sargassum Problem
Cancun is taking a four-method approach to address the sargassum problem that it deals with every year.
It involves detection, preparation, containment, and collection methods.
Officials use satellite and surveillance to predict sargassum’s arrival. They prepare for its arrival by securing the necessary equipment to deal with it.
They install barriers and collect them at sea to help prevent them from reaching the coast, and they collect them when they wash up on the shore.
A Little Help From Nature
In addition to being ready to deal with sargassum when it arrives this year, Cancun is also getting a little help from nature in minimizing the amount that will arrive.
This is due to weather trends this year in places as far away as the U.S. and Canada, which have dealt with an uncharacteristically cold winter.
The strong winds that reach the Caribbean as a result of that cold help to steer the sargassum away from the Mexican Caribbean coast.
Sargassum Explained
If you’ve never seen or heard of sargassum, you’re probably wondering what it is and why tourists dislike it so much.
Sargassum is a type of macroalgae that gathers in the Atlantic in massive amounts and washes up on Cancun beaches during the spring and summer months.
It washes up on the shore in some areas along the eastern coast of the United States and also travels along currents until it reaches the Mexican Caribbean coast.
How Sargassum Affects Tourism
The reason Cancun tourists dislike sargassum so much is because it takes away from the usual beauty of the sparkling white sand, and aqua-blue water beaches that Cancun is known for.
It also emits a pretty terrible smell when it’s left to decay on the beaches.
It isn’t necessarily harmful to most people, but it’s annoying nonetheless.
Cancun Sargassum In Recent Years
Cancun has pretty much always gotten sargassum, but in recent years much more has been arriving, until the last couple of years.
The worst it’s been in a while was in 2019 when nearly 8,500 tons of sargassum arrived, and in 2021, when the region got more than 9,500 tons of it.
In 2023 and 2024 the arrival of sargassum went down considerably, with only 2,800 and 3,700 tons arriving in those years, respectively.
Now it remains to be seen how much sargassum will arrive this year, but so far it’s looking good, at least in regards to the start of the season.
Ways To Avoid Sargassum When Visiting Cancun If It Is Bad
If you do visit Cancun when sargassum is present there are a couple of nearby beaches you can go to so that you can avoid it.
Playa Norte on the island of Isla Mujeres, just across from Cancun, typically has very little sargassum. Cozumel, off the coast of Playa del Carmen, also generally gets less sargassum.
Travelers visiting Cancun over the next couple of months, though, might not have to worry about sargassum at all, which is great news for spring breakers who will be visiting Cancun soon.
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