Sargassum Report
Week of November 2, 2026 · See this week's report
Leeward Islands hold very low seaweed as Riviera Maya stays very high
Head to Leeward Islands, Barbados, Turks & Caicos and Cuba's Cays for very low seaweed this week. Avoid Riviera Maya, Punta Cana & East Coast and Holguín Coast with 100% heavy beaches.
Leeward Islands and Barbados look best this week with very low seaweed, 0% heavy beaches and steady over the next 7 days, near typical. Paradise Beach Nevis in Leeward Islands and Port St. Charles Marina in Barbados are among the clearest exposed beaches with very low seaweed.
Avoid Riviera Maya, Punta Cana & East Coast and Holguín Coast, each with very high seaweed and 100% heavy beaches today and steady over the next 7 days. Cancún & Isla Mujeres also bears watching after moving from moderate to high, now with 60% heavy beaches.
Levels are steady over the next 7 days, after Jamaica moved from high to moderate and Belize moved from low to moderate since Oct 26. The typical trend ahead has the heaviest seaweed in Riviera Maya in December, in Barbados in January and in Riviera Maya in February, so plan December trips in Riviera Maya with care.
Tables from Veabird's forecast data. Text written by AI (Muse Spark) from those numbers and checked against them before publishing.
Seaweed by destination
Median sargassum level across each destination's beaches today, the share with heavy seaweed, where it is heading over the next 7 days, and how today compares with a typical year for this month.
| Destination | Today | Heavy beaches | Next 7 days | vs typical November | vs last week | Weekly trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holguín Coast | Very high | 100% | Steady | – | Same | |
| Riviera Maya | Very high | 100% | Steady | Above typical | Heavier | |
| Punta Cana & East Coast | Very high | 100% | Steady | Above typical | Same | |
| Costa Maya & Bacalar | High | 67% | Steady | Above typical | Heavier | |
| Guatemala Caribbean | High | 100% | Steady | – | Same | |
| Dominican North Coast & Samaná | High | 75% | Steady | Above typical | Heavier | |
| Santo Domingo & South Coast | High | 100% | Steady | Above typical | Lighter | |
| Cancún & Isla Mujeres | High | 60% | Steady | Above typical | Heavier | |
| Belize | Moderate | 45% | Steady | Above typical | Heavier | |
| Jamaica | Moderate | 43% | Steady | Above typical | Lighter | |
| Florida Panhandle | Low | 0% | Steady | Above typical | Heavier | |
| Cuba: Varadero & Havana | Low | 0% | Steady | Above typical | Same | |
| Upper Texas Coast | Low | 0% | Steady | Above typical | Same | |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | Low | 0% | Steady | Above typical | Same | |
| Coastal Bend & South Texas | Low | 0% | Steady | Above typical | Same | |
| Florida Keys | Low | 0% | Steady | Above typical | Same | |
| The Bahamas | Low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Same | |
| Puerto Rico | Low | 7% | Steady | Near typical | Same | |
| Barbados | Low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Same | |
| Honduras & Bay Islands | Low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Same | |
| Leeward Islands | Very low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Same | |
| Alabama & Mississippi Coast | Very low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Lighter | |
| Cuba's Cays | Very low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Same | |
| Louisiana Coast | Very low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Same | |
| Turks & Caicos | Very low | 0% | Steady | Near typical | Same |
Clearest beaches this week
The lowest seaweed over the next 7 days among beaches where sargassum is a real question in a typical year (at most two per destination).
| Beach | Destination | Seaweed, 7-day average | Today | Beach grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradise Beach Nevis | Leeward Islands | Very low | Very low | A- |
| Four Seasons Resort Nevis | Leeward Islands | Very low | Very low | A- |
| Port St. Charles Marina | Barbados | Very low | Very low | A- |
| Bolli Heights Villa | Barbados | Very low | Very low | A- |
| W Retreat & Spa Vieques | Puerto Rico | Low | Low | A- |
| Punta Rucia Lodge | Dominican North Coast & Samaná | Low | Low | B- |
| Belmont Villa | Jamaica | Low | Low | B |
| Hotel Sand Bay Oceanfront | Dominican North Coast & Samaná | Low | Low | B- |
| Palma Real Beach Resort & Villas | Honduras & Bay Islands | Low | Low | B+ |
| Esperanza (Vieques) Beach Resorts | Puerto Rico | Low | Low | B+ |
| Wild Island Resorts | The Bahamas | Low | Low | B+ |
| Jamaica Palace | Jamaica | Low | Low | B |
Heaviest seaweed today
Beaches with the most sargassum in the forecast today (at most two per destination). Many resorts rake at dawn; their page shows the beach after the usual cleanup.
| Beach | Destination | Today | Next 7 days | Beach grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel El Arsenita | Holguín Coast | Very high | Steady | D+ |
| Barceló Bávaro Palace | Punta Cana & East Coast | Very high | Easing | D |
| Paradisus Palma Real | Punta Cana & East Coast | Very high | Easing | D |
| MGM Gran Muthu Ensenada Hotel | Holguín Coast | Very high | Steady | D+ |
| Paradisus Playa del Carmen | Riviera Maya | Very high | Steady | C- |
| Playa del Carmen Resorts | Riviera Maya | Very high | Steady | C- |
| Mayan Beach Garden Inn | Costa Maya & Bacalar | Very high | Easing | C- |
| Bahia Principe Grand Samaná | Dominican North Coast & Samaná | Very high | Steady | D+ |
| Luxury Bahia Principe Samana | Dominican North Coast & Samaná | Very high | Steady | D+ |
| Livingston Beach Resorts | Guatemala Caribbean | Very high | Easing | C- |
The season ahead
Typical seaweed for the next three months at each destination, from the seasonal pattern of the Atlantic sargassum belt and each beach's exposure. Any given year can differ a lot.
| Destination | December | January | February |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama & Mississippi Coast | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Barbados | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Belize | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Cancún & Isla Mujeres | Very low | Very low | Low |
| Coastal Bend & South Texas | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Costa Maya & Bacalar | Very low | Very low | Low |
| Cuba: Varadero & Havana | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Cuba's Cays | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Dominican North Coast & Samaná | Very low | Very low | Moderate |
| Florida Keys | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Florida Panhandle | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Guatemala Caribbean | |||
| Holguín Coast | |||
| Honduras & Bay Islands | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Jamaica | Very low | Very low | Low |
| Leeward Islands | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Louisiana Coast | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Puerto Rico | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Punta Cana & East Coast | Very low | Very low | Moderate |
| Riviera Maya | Very low | Very low | Moderate |
| Santo Domingo & South Coast | Very low | Very low | Moderate |
| The Bahamas | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Turks & Caicos | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | Very low | Very low | Very low |
| Upper Texas Coast | Very low | Very low | Very low |
How good is the model?
Veabird's sargassum model is trained on satellite detections (USF Optical Oceanography Lab via NOAA AOML,2016–2024), winds and currents, and tested on later years it never saw (2025, 2026).
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Discrimination (AUC) | 0.78 | How often a stretch of coast where satellites then saw notable seaweed offshore was ranked above one where they didn't (0.5 = coin flip, 1 = perfect). Scored against satellite detections, not beach reports. |
| Skill vs climatology | 10% | Improvement in probability accuracy over just using the typical season. |
| Test examples | 16,843 | Beach-weeks in the held-out test years. |
| Last trained | Nov 2 | The model retrains as new satellite data arrives. |
About this report
This week's sargassum (seaweed) forecast beach by beach: where it is heavy, where it is clear, the trend and the season ahead, from Veabird's satellite-trained model. It comes out every Monday and covers the Mexican Caribbean, the Caribbean islands, Central America's Caribbean coast, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Grades run from A+ (best) to F; they weigh the things that make or break a trip, not just the weather.
Sources: Satellite sargassum data: USF Optical Oceanography Lab (Sargassum Watch System) via NOAA AOML; Veabird sargassum model (winds, currents, satellite history); Open-Meteo winds. Forecasts are estimates, not safety guidance.
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