Riviera Maya · Cancún · Florida · Dominican Republic
The #1 trusted source for live Caribbean beach and sargassum conditions
Thousands of community reports, more than 170 live cams, satellite imagery and drone footage, beach by beach.
Beaches we track: Cancún and the Hotel Zone, Costa Mujeres, Playa Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Akumal, Tulum, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel, Holbox, Bacalar and the Costa Maya down to Mahahual and Xcalak. Browse every beach
Sargazo Watch is a community that tracks live sargassum conditions across the Riviera Maya, Florida, the Dominican Republic and the wider Caribbean. We publish daily photo updates from beaches across the region, aggregate live cameras from hotels and operators around the Caribbean, and analyse satellite imagery from the University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Lab and NOAA to show where the Atlantic sargassum belt is heading.
We publish the Where to Swim Today report, a plain summary of which beaches are clear and which to avoid, updated in real time from submitted photos.
We also answer hundreds of questions every day from travellers on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and other forums, so people can make informed decisions about where to go, understanding sargassum seasonality, beach location and the Atlantic sargassum belt that carries it.
We also write educational articles for people trying to understand the growing problem sargassum represents, and in the worst case, if you find yourself stuck at the pool, we publish complete guides to plan B activities in your holiday destination.
Aerial footage answers the questions a photograph taken from the ground cannot. It establishes how far offshore a mat extends, where the affected water ends, and whether the discolouration reaches the shoreline at all. Our collaborators film beaches in the Riviera Maya each week, and every footage is published with its date and location.
Our system lets you set email alerts to make monitoring a beach easier. Choose a single beach or all of them, and be notified when a score rises or falls past a threshold you set, so you are kept up to date in real time. Notifications can be switched off again in a single click.
All it takes is an account, which is created in a few seconds: confirm it with the code we send you and you are ready to go.
Ranked on how consistently each stretch stays clear through the season, the colour and transparency of the water, the facilities on the sand, and the effort it takes to reach it.
Most visitors come to the Caribbean and Florida for the beach, but the coast is also within reach of ruins, cenotes, nature parks, reefs and boat trips. Having an alternative in mind matters more than it used to, as sargassum has become both heavier and harder to predict. We have written guides to a great many of them across the Mexican Caribbean, Florida and the Dominican Republic, each covering what to expect, the practicalities of getting there, an indicative price and an honest account of the strengths and the drawbacks.
Behind every photograph, somebody at the beach decided to share what the water actually looks like.
Sargazo Watch teamVolunteers across four regions
Kirsty Luis AnayaCancún hotel zone
Kevin HarrisonPlaya del Carmen · drone
Jaz MoonCancún · drone
Wagabond AdventuresPlaya del Carmen
