VeabirdBeach

Caribbean beaches with the least seaweed in April

In April, Cuba's Cays, Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao, Cayman Islands and Varadero & Havana have the lowest sargassum risk; the Riviera Maya, Holguín and Guatemala's Caribbean coast the highest.

19 of the 32 Caribbean destinations Veabird tracks have low or very low risk in a typical April; the Riviera Maya sees notable seaweed near shore in about 85% of April weeks. The warmest water among the low-risk picks is around Colombia's Caribbean coast (84°F).

Other months

The destination with the least seaweed each month.

Caribbean destinations by seaweed risk in April

Lowest risk first. Seaweed: share of April weeks with notable sargassum near shore, 2016–2024. Sea and rainy days: typical April. Click a column to sort.

#DestinationSeaweed riskSeaRainy daysStorm riskMonth guide
1Cuba's CaysVery low 1%80°F9Very lowApr guide
2Aruba, Bonaire & CuraçaoVery low 1%81°F11Very lowApr guide
3Cayman IslandsVery low 1%82°F12Very lowApr guide
4Varadero & HavanaVery low 1%79°F10Very lowApr guide
5Colombia's Caribbean coastVery low 1%84°F15Very lowApr guide
6The Corn IslandsVery low 2%83°F12Very lowApr guide
7Turks & CaicosVery low 3%80°F10Very lowApr guide
8The BVIVery low 3%81°F12Very lowApr guide
9The US Virgin IslandsVery low 3%82°F17Very lowApr guide
10The Leeward IslandsVery low 4%81°F18Very lowApr guide
11San AndrésVery low 5%83°F9Very lowApr guide
12Trinidad & TobagoVery low 5%83°F17Very lowApr guide
13The BahamasVery low 5%77°F8Very lowApr guide
14Roatán & the Bay IslandsVery low 6%83°F11Very lowApr guide
15BelizeVery low 7%82°F7Very lowApr guide
16BarbadosVery low 7%82°F14Very lowApr guide
17Puerto RicoLow 15%82°F22Very lowApr guide
18St. Lucia, St. Vincent & GrenadaLow 17%82°F17Very lowApr guide
19Panama's Caribbean coastLow 24%84°F24Very lowApr guide
20Guadeloupe & MartiniqueModerate 27%82°F16Very lowApr guide
21JamaicaModerate 37%83°F21Very lowApr guide
22HaitiModerate 40%84°F15Very lowApr guide
23Costa Rica's Caribbean coastModerate 42%85°F22Very lowApr guide
24CancúnModerate 42%81°F8Very lowApr guide
25Costa MayaModerate 42%82°F9Very lowApr guide
26Santo Domingo's coastModerate 44%82°F17Very lowApr guide
27CozumelHigh 47%82°F10Very lowApr guide
28The Dominican North CoastHigh 63%81°F21Very lowApr guide
29Punta CanaHigh 67%81°F19Very lowApr guide
30Guatemala's Caribbean coastVery high 70%85°F19Very lowApr guide
31HolguínVery high 71%80°F14Very lowApr guide
32The Riviera MayaVery high 85%82°F10Very lowApr guide

Lowest-risk beaches in each destination

The three beaches with the least April seaweed in each destination, in the order above, with this week's beach grades.

Cuba's Cays very low

Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao very low

Cayman Islands very low

Varadero & Havana very low

Colombia's Caribbean coast very low

The Corn Islands very low

Turks & Caicos very low

The BVI very low

The US Virgin Islands very low

The Leeward Islands very low

San Andrés very low

Trinidad & Tobago very low

The Bahamas very low

Roatán & the Bay Islands very low

Belize very low

Barbados very low

Puerto Rico low

St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenada low

Panama's Caribbean coast low

Guadeloupe & Martinique moderate

Jamaica moderate

Haiti moderate

Costa Rica's Caribbean coast moderate

Cancún moderate

Costa Maya moderate

Santo Domingo's coast moderate

Cozumel high

The Dominican North Coast high

Punta Cana high

Guatemala's Caribbean coast very high

Holguín very high

The Riviera Maya very high

Grades for the next few days from Veabird's beach forecast, updated Oct 4, 18:00 UTC. Higher is better: A+ to F.

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.

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Coordinates approximate; forecasts are estimates, not safety guidance.