How do you feel about seaweed?

I bet you could smell it as soon as you heard me say the word! 


When I think about the beaches here on the Atlantic coast, I never really considered that seaweed could be a problem.

I only notice it when it's washed up in small patches along the shore or in the ocean - but it’s never really gotten in the way of my enjoying the beach.

On the Gulf Coast, however, when a specific type of seaweed piles up on shore, it’s an entirely different story. For people wanting to enjoy a perfect beach day, it’s a smelly, unpleasant nuisance, and for some ocean life, it can be - deadly.
 
Scientists following the rapidly growing collection of this Sargassum didn’t consider it too much of a threat to the coastline until recently; the seaweed collection generally stayed in the Atlantic Ocean.

However, around March this year reports started flooding the newfeeds of what had now become an apocalyptic-sized 5,000-mile-wide patchwork of Sargassum clumps floating in the Atlantic - making its way toward Florida and other coastlines alongGulf of Mexico,  a giant blob of seaweed twice the width of the United States was now threatening to dump smelly and possibly harmful piles across the beaches.

I started to pay more attention to this massive “blob” of seaweed, thinking, “Wow, how awful it would be if that blob reached Cancun!”

If you're a frequent listener to the podcast, you can probably guess why I was suddenly all worried about Cancun. I was headed there in just a few weeks!

Listen to what I learned about seaweed season and what the beach in Cancun had to say about it while I was there.

I learned an important lesson about the beach: it isn't always what you want - but it's always what you need. 





Listen to The Beach Speaks on Buzzsprout, Apple, or Spotify (or your favorite Podcast Player)

Follow on Apple and Spotify and share it with your friends!

Click here to help keep the podcast going: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/paigefriend (it takes caffeine and cash to keep this podcast afloat)

Leave a voicemail! https://www.speakpipe.com/TheBeachSpeaks

Follow me on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeachspeaks/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheBeachSpeaks
Web: https://the-beach-speaks.onpodium.com/