I have received so many questions regarding sargassum seaweed that I decided to start posting weekly updates for all of you. Scroll down to see where I have seen sargassum piling up, if at all, over the past week here on St. John.
Want to learn more about sargassum? Click here to read a recent post I wrote.
May 19th Update
All of the popular beaches continue to be free of sargassum. Great news!
May 9th Update
Good news! The sargassum that we saw on the more popular beaches – Honeymoon, Trunk Bay, and Cinnamon, for example – is gone. We still have some sargassum in the area, but it is no longer affecting the popular North Shore beaches. There is a bit dried up on some, but it is not affecting anyone’s beach days.
Over the past few days, I have seen sargassum in Chocolate Hole, Hart Bay, Borck Creek (which is part of Hurricane Hole), and over at Drunk Bay (which is near Salt Pond Bay). I have seen some on Ms. Vie’s beach on the East End too. There wasn’t much on either Hansen or Saltwell Bottom out there.
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April 26th Update (Afternoon)
I am happy to tell you all that things are mostly back to normal on the seaweed front. The wind direction changed back to normal, so the majority of our beaches were mostly free of sargassum today. Jumbie continues to have a large amount, but we are used to seeing it there. I didn’t hike over to Salomon or Honeymoon, so I am not certain on the status over there. I also haven’t checked out Salt Pond today.
Hawksnest, Trunk and Cinnamon had a small amount of sargassum dried on the beach. It was so small that you could step over it, and it wouldn’t be bothersome. There were some pools of it floating in Hawksnest Bay, but again, nothing problematic. Here are a few pics I took this morning…
April 26th Update (Early Morning)
So the sargassum was mostly going in Cruz Bay in the morning. Then it came back with a vengeance throughout the day. It is gone, once again, this morning. The employees at Wharfside Village worked diligently all day to remove as much as they could.
Jumbie was covered yesterday. I saw some piled up on the far side of Francis. Maho was free of it. Trunk Bay was mostly too. Cinnamon has some that was dried up own the beach. I did not notice much in the water.
Just as I had hoped, no additional seaweed seemed to come in yesterday to the more popular beaches. What I saw was dried up piles on the beach in some spots, and none that I saw seemed to smell at all. So all is right in the world once again. 🙂
April 25th Update (Early Morning)
The sargassum in Cruz Bay has subsided overnight. I’m heading out to the North Shore soon and will post an additional update later today.
April 24th Update
There is a large amount of sargassum on Honeymoon Beach today. You have to wade through a decent amount of it to enter the water on most of the beach. The employees at the Caneel Bay Beach Club were raking it on that side of the beach.
There was also some on Salomon, but not as much as Honeymoon. You could step over it and enjoy the beach as normal.
It’s also covering Cruz Bay beach today. They’re taking it in front of Wharfside.
As I mentioned before, this isn’t a regular occurrence and it should lessen as the week continues.
April 23rd Afternoon Update
A reader has told me that Salt Pond is currently “covered” in sargassum.
I did notice some piling up on the right side of Trunk Bay today. The majority of the beach remains free of sargassum.
Sargassum floated into Francis Bay during Sunday afternoon. I was told you had to wade through a bit to access the water by 2:30 p.m.
Caneel Bay beach (near ZoZo’s and the dock) has sargassum across it.
Our winds normally come out of the east. This allows the sargassum to float past the more popular beaches. We currently have a very strange westerly wind. This is prompting the sargassum to hit some beaches it normally would not, like Trunk Bay, for example.The wind direction is supposed to change back to normal in the upcoming days, so the sargassum should not be problematic after that happens.
I’ll keep you all posted! 🙂
April 23rd Morning Update
I am definitely seeing more sargassum in the waters surrounding St. John, but as of yesterday, it is still not affecting the most popular beaches here on St. John.
I did see a decent amount of sargassum floating in the mouth of Great Cruz Bay yesterday. The seaweed was not on the beach at the Westin, which sits on Great Cruz Bay.
There were masses of sargassum in Hurricane Hole on St. John’s East End yesterday.
I also saw sargassum on the beach in Chocolate Hole yesterday. There are vacation rentals on the beach, but this is not a typical swimming or snorkeling area for vacationers.
There was some near the shore of Reef Bay yesterday too. It was not near the hiking trail, but rather on the western side of the bay.
Sargassum continues to pile up near the eastern side of Ditliff Point.
A very large amount of sargassum continues to pile up in Coral Bay. I did notice a bit of a smell yesterday when standing right near the shore.
Again, it is not affecting the most popular beaches here on St. John, including Hawksnest, Gibney, Oppenheimer, Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho, Francis, Hansen or Saltwell Bottom. (I have not been out to Salt Pond or the Lameshur area recently.)
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April 21st, 2023 Update
The sargassum is piling up on the shore in Coral Bay. I also saw a large amount on the western shore of Hart Bay on the island’s south side. The North Shore beaches are still free of sargassum.
April 19th, 2023 Update
There really isn’t too much sargassum affecting the island at the moment. I saw some dried up over at Jumbie yesterday, but it wasn’t enough to make me not want to spend the day there.
There is, however, a large amount in Friis Bay, which is the bay in front of Miss Lucy’s restaurant. It’s currently floating in the water, and did not appear to be dried up on the beach. I did not notice a smell at all. So while I am trying to inform you about its location, please continue to enjoy the amazing food over at Miss Lucy’s. The sargassum is not affecting their business at all, nor do I expect it too.
North Shore Beaches
- Hawksnest, Gibney, Oppenheimer, Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho & Francis are all currently free of sargassum.
You will see what looks like strands of it floating in the water around St. John, but again, it is not dramatically affecting our beaches this week.
You can bookmark this page at www.explorestj.com/sargassum
Looking to take a St. John island tour?
Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.