Cancun's Riviera Maya: The Big Sargassum Problem

Cancun and Riviera Maya have a huge seaweed sargassum problem. Since 2011 Mexico's Caribbean Coast has been choked up with huge amounts of sargassum, leaving some resorts not having usable beaches. Some hotels do not clean it up on a daily basis leaving decomposing seaweed which then breaks down into the water making it go brown and leaving the air thick of a rotten egg smell. Some areas are better than others at trying to clean this up, however, personal investigation is needed before booking, to avoid an expensive disappointment. The travel companies will tell you everything is OK, to get the bookings and bums on seats, however what they dont tell you is that this problem is really making it unpleasant for tourists.
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[@CDFImages]

For more travel reviews and travel content check out this link here: kzbin.info/aero/PLgpzS66fiq_dg4YnrpWdLMJ4LFAkmgF0r

[@Irina-Carlos]

Saludos desde Playa del Carmen, me gustó tu documental y estoy muy de acuerdo con tus conclusiones

[@CDFImages]

Hi and thanks for watching and commenting here! Its really unfortunate that these beautiful beaches are like this. Playa Del Carmen is pretty much the centre of the area of Rivera Maya, and a big draw for tourists all over. The state and municipal authorities really need to come up with a full proof plan in order to keep the beaches as clean as possible, or else it is going to really further impact the tourism industry which Playa Del Carmen serves and needs. Fingers crossed! Thanks, Colin.

[@georgeenelcaribemexicano]

There are beaches with no sargassum, if you are arriving to Cancun, check Playa Caracol or Playa langosta

[@CDFImages]

Hi, Thanks for your comment, good to know. Can you confirm that these beaches are currently free of the sargassum? Or, when were you there last, as its good to know and have a good picture of where its at and how badly affected it is. The Hotel zone is a lot better at clearing it up than down the cost, Thanks, Colin.

[@georgeenelcaribemexicano]

@@CDFImages I upload daily updates on the sargassum, you can also monitore here in youtube, there are some camaras shooting live avail, search for web cam cancun, there are like 4 pointing to different parts of cancun. Basicly the beaches in front of Isla mujeres do not get sargassum.

[@OutdoorCanucks]

we were just in Costa Mujeres (just north of Cancun) a few weeks ago and the sea weed was all but none gone. There was some but not much at all. Video coming soon.

[@CDFImages]

Hi OutdoorCanucks, and thanks for watching and commenting. Good to know where the sargassum is not. Look forward to seeing your video when you post it. Someone on here was saying that they have come here a few times over the years and it was winter time (Nov-Jan) and they reported no sargassum, and this was in Playacar, whilst the majority of others have reported sargassum all other times of the year pretty much up and down the coast. Thanks, Colin

[@rk6483]

Went to Playa Del Carmen from Germany in April 2022, and there was so much sargassum everywhere and I definitely (unfortunately) won't be coming back. I love Mexico though. Maybe the west coast of MX would be a better option:)

[@CDFImages]

Thanks for commenting @rk6483 I filmed some of the video the mo th after you were there. I was up and down the entire Caribbean coast of Mexico and despite what so.e people on here who have claimed there is no sargassum at all, to the contrary, that I agree with you, there were huge amounts of the seaweed and also the big stink which followed the massive piles of it too. I've been to other parts of Mexico but I can't advise you on the West Coast on the Pacific, however if Costa Rica is anything to go by for Pacific Ocean, it was beautiful with lush beaches for miles. I don't think I will be back to Riviera Maya as there are hundreds of other locations without the sargassum. Consider a round the world ticket, you get to see more places and can sample other fantastic countries. Thanks, Colin.

[@DJMadVibes1]

First time in Cancun in 2002 for spring break. Beaches were pristine. Water was turquoise blue and the sand was very powdery white. Been back a few times after 2010. Terrible beach conditions each time.Very sad. Mother Nature has not been good to Cancun. Hope that changes in the coming years.

[@CDFImages]

Hi @DJMadVibes1 and thanks for watching and commenting here. So it sounds like you have a really good view going back of how lush those white sandy beaches used to be. It's what was the big draw for us in the brochure pictures too. And they looked like the pictures back then as well. Your'e right about it all changing. It's a sad state of affairs that this is all happening. I know the rising global temperatures are having an impact, and the nutrients run off from booming agriculture into the Amazon River mixing with the Ocean currents are having an impact, as the great sargassum patch is vissible from space. This doesnt help beach goers however. I think the Mexican authorites will need to take urgent action. It's something they just cannot afford to ignore. Do you mind sharing the name of your hotel or the town you last visited in Cancun/Riviera Maya? It would be good to see which hotels are actively doing something about it and when. The Mexican Gov have spent a fortune on the new Tulum Airport and the new Mayan Train (AKA Tren Maya) and I think this is going to be a giant waste of money if the tourists stop coming. Lets hope they come up with a concrete plan and quickly as well. Thanks, Colin.

[@bartstewart8644]

What about Belize, south of Mexico? They have a barrier reef. Is it any better there?

[@CDFImages]

Hi, thanks for watching and commenting here! Good question! The short answer is, I do not know. The inland waters of the lagoon area seem free, however I havnt been to Belize City where there would be a better view half way down the coast of Belize. If I do happen to find out I will certainly share this here. In my opinion however, I think Belize will become the new 'undiscovered Mexico' such as Tulum was decades ago before all the new development. I know Belize real estate market is going to be getting stronger. I will be traveling at some point in the next year, central america which will include Belize, so stay tuned. Thanks, Colin.

[@Blunteffect27]

They share the same Rief that stretches from Yucatán to Honduras so yeah

[@CDFImages]

​@Blunteffect27 thanks for commenting, be good if you have any pics of that region and recent seaweed status updates down there too. Thanks, Colin

[@Dxpa1980]

We have been there when the grass hits and it stinks really bad

[@CDFImages]

Hi, and thanks for watching this and commenting! It's something which is just going to keep worsening year on year. It definitely stinks. And then there are the hotels which chose to do nothing for days on end to a week, the stuff just lies there putrifying, and if you are at a hotel which takes its water supply form that area via a desalination plant, yes, you get water, but you are then showering in this stinking water which takes on a slight viscous, almost slimey feeling, and the whole hotel room is tainted with this stuff. Then the guest get sick en masse, and its pretty grim. As much as I love Mexico, consider other areas of Mexico, such as its Pacific coast, and then there are other really nice pristine beaches, kind of like what Rivera Maya had pre-2011 and they are probably a little less in cost too. Thanks, Colin.

[@FatherPyramid]

ive been to playacar beaches in november 2014, december 2015, january 2018, november 2022, and january 2024 for a combined total of just over 30 days, and the beaches have been mostly pristine, hardly any seaweed, with an exception of maybe 2-3 days in 2018.

[@CDFImages]

Hi @FatherPyramid and thanks for commenting & watching. when you say pristine, do you mean absolutely no sargassum at all? No rotten eggs smell at all? Sounds like you were lucky. Lots of folks all over here saying they have had various this and that issues on the sargassum. Some folk were saying that it was seasonal, but this is where it gets ambiguous, because the hotels would say it was seasonal, and others would say it was something like 8-10 months of the year. Im my experience, and from speaking with others it looks more than 10 months of the year now, if not an all-round-year-problem. Playa Del Carmen is the mainstay of Rivera Maya being centrally placed, Playa Car obviously close by. 2014 and 2015 would have been where the tipping point was before it became a problem which wasnt going away. Being in the winter at that time back in '14 and '15, this was the case as others have put it as well. As you have been visiting in the winter time, this is the point of the least amount of seaweed. But hearing from others and knowing what ive filmed out-with the winter time, its a huge issue. I feel sorry for the ones who book weddings, on the premise of a pristine beach, to then get there and find out it is anything but. There is the official sargassum website which is a good resource. Thanks, Colin

[@FatherPyramid]

@@CDFImages Yes when i say pristine, i mean no seaweed at all, beautiful turquoise seas, perfectly clear water with small fish swimming around you, no smell at all, again with exception of a few days in 2018. i'd say 27 of the combined 31 days I was there throughout those visits, it was perfect.

[@FatherPyramid]

This year just over a month ago, I was there Dec 30-Jan 13 and there wasn't any sign of any seaweed at all, perfectly pristine on the playacar strech of beaches in front of the resorts

[@CDFImages]

@@FatherPyramid sounds like you were lucky. But as I say previously, you were there on the winter months, when it the sargassum belt was not as its biggest. And up and down the coast, even when other beaches reported sargasum, this is the times there were minimum amounts of the stuff. At least you had a nice time with great beaches.

[@CDFImages]

@@FatherPyramid you dodged a bullet then, but again, its the winter months and the sargassum is at its lowest point. I was there 3 different times in 2022 totalling 5 weeks, from May through to October and my video is what we saw. If the hotels are doing a thorough and daily clean for that strech of beach, then it is do-able, because it doens get the chance to breakdown and putrify. Its when the latter happens, that it becomes unbearable. Best to avoid visiting through the spring, summer and autumn months.

[@timmy2310]

You're better off hitting the CENOTES. which are amazing and in my opinion better than the beach for hanging out in the water. Still a wonderful place to visit for food, sight seeing and the local people which are some of the friendliest people on Earth.

[@CDFImages]

Hi @timmy2310 thanks for watching and commenting here. I tend to disagree regarding the beaches, since they were fantastic before the sargassum hit, but I do also agree that the Senotés are fantastic, some more than others. Do check out this link here for my review on a huge Cenoté (link below) kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5etYn2Fq7qpr7s There is an issue with Cenoté's water quality however in that the majority of all cenotés in the Yucatan now show signs of contamination in the water with total and faecal coliforms to a greater or lesser extent, which comes from humans. Im not sure how much more pressure from humans and tourism the area can withstand without having a detriment for the natural wildlife, jungle, flora and fauna and aquatic animals and fish, but it is a very beautiful region and the people like you say are also very friendly and welcoming, just not the taxi firms which still have a grib over the region on rip off taxi fares, which are even higher than New York City, mile for mile. Do check out my Cenoté video , as its worth a visit. Thanks, Colin.

[@yeahdude2414]

just booked the mayan riviera in the end of July .... I think im in trouble...

[@CDFImages]

@yeahdude2414 thanks for watching and commenting! Hopefully you have a great time, however please do take some video and pics, would be interested to see how good/bad the sargassum actually is. Which part of the Rivera Maya are you going to? If you check in the comments below @DJMadVibes1 has visited a few times, although in the winter and there was no sargassum at all he reports. July is pretty much starting the height of the sargassum season, so best of luck and look forward to seeing pics etc. Mexico is lovely, however its not too late to change it if you check your terms and conditions for travel, however do your research with the sargassum maps and livve webcams and epecially reviews (do at least 10 pages of reviews to sift out the fake ones). Thanks, Colin.

[@robdinga8778]

@@CDFImages we are staying at a Bahia Principe resort. All four of them are together. I’m sure we have fun still. Going July 27-aug3

[@CDFImages]

@@robdinga8778 Thanks for commenting again. I've stayed at 3 of them there. Check the video from time stamp 5:00 onwards as that is filmed on the beach from there. Whilst they had sargassum coming in daily, they did appear to have clean up crews every day cleaning it up. At least the sargassum does not have a chance to rot there, unlike other hotels north of there. You should be ok there. Bahia Principe are normally good hotels, i do know the chain has made some cut backs around July 2022 onwards, and i definitely do know that all four hotels in the area all, site wide, have the room air con, set to 24 degrees C, which is not cool. I know this is a separate issue to the sargassum, which is why we went rogue from our hotel for 5 days (using our hotel - Sian Khan, as a base) and went travelling round the Yucatan and then flew on a whim to Mexico City from Chetumal. Do check out my other videos on this below (do check the descriptions in these other videos as it explains everything: Mexico City: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX6rmnSnadKnnpI Flying from Chetumal to Mexico City: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGScoHernLt3qLs City of Merida: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6qqiJWmeshnma8 Flying Merida to Chetumal: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHeweHiNoceGqJY Flying from Mexico City to Cozumel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmXCioWkmNGpqLc We then decided not to go back to Riviera Maya last year, and decided to go round the world instead, under our own steam doing all our travel arrangements, places including various parts of Japan, Fiji, Australia, USA, various parts of Costa Rica and then various parts of Mexico. Chichen Itza: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYvUp6qDmpyFfK8 Cenote Agua (a must visit): kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5etYn2Fq7qpr7s The above links should hopefully give you some nice travel tips and places to go and see. Do check out taking local busses and collectivos. The taxis are owned by the cartels and extremely expensive. Worth taking an ovenight stay down to Chetumal on the ADO bus, really worth it and fantastic place to see. Hope this helps, thanks, Colin

[@CDFImages]

@yeahdude2414 @robdinga8778 do check out my travel videos link here for more stuff in and also out of Mexico as I cover reviews and explore the place kzbin.info/aero/PLgpzS66fiq_dg4YnrpWdLMJ4LFAkmgF0r I also have loads of other videos which i still have to upload and will do this in due course, just have way too much content to edit through. Thanks Colin

[@DaughteroftheLight]

What resort is this?

[@CDFImages]

Hi, there are quite a few resorts, which one do you want to know about? Video time stamp will help. Thanks, Colin

[@DaughteroftheLight]

@@CDFImages the one with the gross water that was nearly brown. I’m going to secrets AKumal and I hope it doesnt look like that when I go,

[@CDFImages]

@@DaughteroftheLight can't help unless you can provide me with the video time stamp like I asked earlier, there's a lot of brown water featured in my video.

[@avasco5918]

You need to talk to Brasil.

[@CDFImages]

Thanks for commenting @avasco5918 i think these governments need to talk to each other. Dont hold your breath however, we will just see more sargassum. It will most likely end up how everything else ends up where humans are the cause, nothing will happen, until it's too late. Thanks, Colin

[@stephenbunn2150]

All gone 2023 😊

[@CDFImages]

I very much doubt that. Sounds great, but Riviera Maya is a large zone. So the bit where its all gone, which part was that at? Pics or video would be good.

[@JaimeBurciaga]

Don't look it as a problem but an opportunity.

[@CDFImages]

Hi, and thanks for commenting and watching too. From the perspective from people flying long haul at around 10 hours to get here, and considering the high cost for a holiday in Mexico, Im not sure that the average UK holidaymaker would see it as an opportunity, however that being said, there are many opportunities to be drawn from the massive amounts of sargassum. 1) It is a form of carbon capture, 2) I understand that there are already some excellent local people already making house bricks out of the sargassum, and making very affordable housing options for people who have little money to live on on the Riviera Maya and surrounding areas, which is a really good thing for the locals, 3) Its also being used for fertalisers for crops too, and, 4) fish and other marine life use it as a home too. I think if President Obrador can get the state governer and other community and hotel consortium bosses onside and together with a functioning agreement which is better than what is happening just now, even up the sargassum tax per head for the tourists, then it should be manageable. Right now, however, I think the travel compnaies are also responsible as they need to inform tourists who book and be more honest with them regarding the sargassum blooms. Thanks, Colin.

[@gap250]

Wish I would’ve known this before I went to Cancun in June 2022. The amount of sargassum and the terrible smell made the beach completely unusable. It put a huge damper on a much anticipated vacation for our family. Unless they find a solution, Cancun will die because of it.

[@CDFImages]

Hi @@gap250 thanks for watching and commenting on my video. Would you mind sharing please your hotel or the town you went to please? Really interested to know to get a visual map as this sargassum problem is something which is really playing havoc with everyones holiday plans. This is why i left it to the end of the video to say about my conclusions, saying about the travel companies mis-selling tactics, as they know how bad it is. Part of the problem is the travel companies, because they need to be honest with their customers before they book (I know this sounds counter-intuitive for sales) but if they all did this, then the Mexican authorities would have no alternative but to properly tackle this and come up with a robust solution which actually works, and in turn it would be a win for the travel companies which rent rooms from the hotels or own the hotels outright, because they would in turn then have their investments make better returns with happy customers and make investments a lot longer into the future. In my report, The Azule Beach Resort Cancun Hotel in Caracol, did not clean up the seaweed for at least 6 days and a lot of people reported having diarohea and vomiting within a day after swimming in this brown smelly water. Thanks, Colin

[@gap250]

@@CDFImages We went to Royalton Riviera Cancun

[@CDFImages]

@@gap250 Thanks for watching and commenting. Thats a nice hotel. Did you have a good time and did you have any seaweed at all? If so, please, how much was there, out of interest? Thanks, Colin