Cancun beaches for Mexico summer break forecast sargassum-free

Riviera Maya, Q.R. — The sargassum seaweed flow onto Mexico’s beaches is forecast to be almost non-existent for the summer. Due to distance, speed of travel and currents, Cancun and Playa del Carmen beaches are expected to remain relatively free of the seaweed.

The upcoming 2023 summer vacation holiday season for Cancun and Riviera Maya are forecast to be sargassum-free according to Esteban Jesús Amaro Mauricio. The Director of the Quintana Roo Sargassum Monitoring Network reported that daily monitoring shows a lack of sargassum arrival for the next three months.

He explained that there is daily monitoring from Africa to the coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula. He says that from the Arch of the Antilles to the Yucatan Peninsula there are approximately 3,000 kilometers and that sargassum travels 1,000 kilometers per month.

Taking that speed and distance into consideration, the forecaster says the next bout of seaweed is not likely to arrive until after the summer holidays, and any sargassum that does arrive would continue to be minimal.

“From what we have been observing through the satellite it is very clean. There is almost no sargassum between Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula. As the sargassum continues to move north like it has been, we will have lean months, that is, we are not going to have a significant presence,” he explained.

The lack of sargassum and / or a minimal arrival is forecast for the entire state coastline. He says currently, there is a bit more seaweed being recorded on a few Tulum beaches, but the most recent updates show minimal sargassum along a majority of Quintana Roo.

Any seaweed that has been making landfall has been removed by municipal workers. Amaro Mauricio said that beaches of Cancun have seen very small landfalls, as is the same with the mainland of Isla Mujeres, which is forecast to continue for the 2023 Cancun summer break season.