An ‘interesting’ time in the Caribbean at the moment caused by a huge influx of Sargassum seaweed on the beaches, especially here on the Riviera Maya. Instead of the pristine white sands and crystal clear waters there is seaweed as far as the eye can see. Hotels are having to employ people to clear the beaches daily.
The Sargassum seaweed is natural and provides an important habitat but it certainly smells as it rots on the beaches. The volume arriving is potentially a health risk. Victorians used to consider the seaside a healthy place to go as the air was clean and you could smell the ozone. In fact, they could smell a gas being given off by microbes in the seaweed. Besides ozone at ground level is not healthy – it’s a pollutant. The truth about the seaside. If those Victorians were here now and the breeze wafted in the wrong direction I think they might have changed their minds about the health benefits! Interestingly the cause is unknown, even though it began a few years ago. It may be climate change and it may not. See this article for more on the Sargassum conundrum. Sargassum. The what, where and why.
