Caribbean beaches with the least seaweed, month by month
Across the year, Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao and the Corn Islands have the least sargassum and the Riviera Maya and Holguín the most. Pick a month to see all 32 Caribbean destinations ranked, with sea temperature, rainy days, storm risk and the lowest-risk beaches.
Pick a month
The destination with the least seaweed each month.
Least and most seaweed each month
| Month | Least seaweed | Most seaweed |
|---|---|---|
| January | Cuba's Cays, Turks & Caicos and Cayman Islands | Holguín and The Dominican North Coast |
| February | Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao and The Corn Islands | Holguín and The Riviera Maya |
| March | Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao and Turks & Caicos | The Riviera Maya and Holguín |
| April | Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao and Cayman Islands | The Riviera Maya and Holguín |
| May | Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao and The Corn Islands | The Riviera Maya and Punta Cana |
| June | Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao, Turks & Caicos and San Andrés | Holguín and The Riviera Maya |
| July | The Corn Islands, Turks & Caicos and San Andrés | The Riviera Maya and Holguín |
| August | Cuba's Cays, San Andrés and Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao | The Riviera Maya and Haiti |
| September | Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao and San Andrés | Holguín and The Riviera Maya |
| October | Cuba's Cays, San Andrés and Trinidad & Tobago | Holguín and Haiti |
| November | Cuba's Cays, The Corn Islands and San Andrés | The Riviera Maya and Punta Cana |
| December | Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao and The Corn Islands | The Riviera Maya and Holguín |
Every destination, every month
Share of weeks with notable sargassum near shore, 2016–2024. Click a column to sort.
| Destination | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao | 4% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 3% | 1% |
| The Bahamas | 8% | 8% | 6% | 5% | 3% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 5% | 7% | 7% |
| Barbados | 15% | 5% | 4% | 7% | 2% | 4% | 10% | 20% | 14% | 13% | 14% | 9% |
| Belize | 7% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 12% | 4% | 9% | 9% | 16% | 12% | 12% | 3% |
| The BVI | 9% | 3% | 6% | 3% | 5% | 6% | 4% | 7% | 12% | 8% | 13% | 13% |
| Cancún | 34% | 36% | 39% | 42% | 45% | 43% | 54% | 53% | 50% | 35% | 38% | 26% |
| Cayman Islands | 1% | 3% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 4% |
| Colombia's Caribbean coast | 6% | 3% | 2% | 1% | 11% | 14% | 20% | 20% | 22% | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| The Corn Islands | 2% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 1% | 2% |
| Costa Maya | 57% | 47% | 43% | 42% | 42% | 49% | 63% | 65% | 51% | 43% | 47% | 56% |
| Costa Rica's Caribbean coast | 15% | 16% | 20% | 42% | 47% | 30% | 11% | 25% | 45% | 44% | 28% | 21% |
| Cozumel | 25% | 34% | 38% | 47% | 48% | 41% | 45% | 46% | 45% | 37% | 40% | 40% |
| Cuba's Cays | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| The Dominican North Coast | 63% | 54% | 61% | 63% | 62% | 60% | 54% | 60% | 59% | 51% | 42% | 52% |
| Guadeloupe & Martinique | 25% | 24% | 34% | 27% | 23% | 21% | 19% | 31% | 33% | 31% | 31% | 29% |
| Guatemala's Caribbean coast | 40% | 61% | 66% | 70% | 68% | 58% | 33% | 60% | 78% | 58% | 54% | 42% |
| Haiti | 46% | 43% | 21% | 40% | 58% | 72% | 66% | 78% | 82% | 73% | 67% | 65% |
| Holguín | 68% | 75% | 75% | 71% | 71% | 83% | 78% | 76% | 89% | 86% | 70% | 74% |
| Jamaica | 33% | 26% | 27% | 37% | 44% | 45% | 44% | 44% | 46% | 39% | 34% | 34% |
| The Leeward Islands | 10% | 10% | 4% | 4% | 7% | 4% | 5% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 9% | 8% |
| Panama's Caribbean coast | 14% | 17% | 15% | 24% | 17% | 11% | 9% | 21% | 25% | 21% | 19% | 16% |
| Puerto Rico | 2% | 3% | 10% | 15% | 11% | 14% | 19% | 18% | 14% | 9% | 10% | 6% |
| Punta Cana | 56% | 55% | 59% | 67% | 73% | 73% | 66% | 66% | 69% | 64% | 71% | 67% |
| The Riviera Maya | 57% | 71% | 76% | 85% | 85% | 76% | 82% | 83% | 82% | 70% | 77% | 77% |
| Roatán & the Bay Islands | 7% | 7% | 5% | 6% | 9% | 5% | 3% | 8% | 9% | 2% | 4% | 4% |
| San Andrés | 6% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
| Santo Domingo's coast | 53% | 33% | 33% | 44% | 57% | 64% | 54% | 59% | 67% | 67% | 60% | 60% |
| St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenada | 16% | 13% | 11% | 17% | 11% | 8% | 14% | 28% | 28% | 12% | 14% | 13% |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 8% | 7% | 7% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 5% | 8% | 4% | 1% | 4% | 7% |
| Turks & Caicos | 1% | 3% | 1% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 3% | 4% |
| The US Virgin Islands | 12% | 16% | 9% | 3% | 5% | 4% | 3% | 6% | 9% | 6% | 20% | 13% |
| Varadero & Havana | 7% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 12% | 21% | 19% | 20% | 16% | 15% | 11% |
Very low · Low · Moderate · High · Very high
How this is ranked
Seaweed risk is the share of weeks in that month, 2016–2024, when NOAA AOML's satellite sargassum signal (the Alternative Floating Algae Index, developed at the University of South Florida) within about 20 km of a beach's stretch of coast was in the top fifth of the whole record, smoothed over neighboring weeks and adjusted for how exposed each beach is. A destination's figure is its median beach. It is the same history Veabird's sargassum model learns from; download it as an open dataset (CSV and JSON, CC BY 4.0). Sea temperature and rainy days (at least 1 mm) are 6-year ERA5 averages (Open-Meteo) for the destination's resorts; storm risk is Veabird's year-ahead outlook from historical storm tracks.
Limits: this is history, not a forecast. Blooms vary a lot from year to year, clouds hide the sea in some weeks, the satellite sees seaweed offshore rather than on the sand, and murky coastal water can read as seaweed near river mouths and shallow banks. Cleanup crews and barriers change what you see on a given beach. ERA5 counts light showers, so rainy days can run high on dry islands. Check the live forecast before you go.