Sargassum in St. Maarten: where to swim today, beach by beach

Today’s beach-by-beach status is shown on the map and list above, updated every morning. Green dots mark the clear beaches, orange or red dots the ongoing landings. Conditions can change within 48 hours depending on the wind, so check again on the day of your outing.

Sargassum is a floating brown seaweed (genus Sargassum) that drifts in huge rafts across the sea. The phenomenon has surged since 2011: pushed by tropical Atlantic currents, it crosses the ocean from a vast belt between Africa and Brazil — the great sargassum belt — before washing ashore.

Out at sea it shelters useful marine life; the problem is the massive landings: piling up on the shore, the seaweed rots and becomes a health and economic headache. Natural processes, then, but on an unprecedented recent scale.

Landings mainly hit the windward east coast, exposed to the Atlantic: Orient Bay (Baie Orientale), the Galion, Baie Lucas and the Grandes Cayes on the French side; Dawn Beach and Guana Bay on the Dutch side.

But "affected" doesn’t mean "off-limits": outside a heavy landing, these beaches are often still swimmable. The sheltered west side is simply the calmest more often. The day’s per-beach score is the only real judge.

Often on the sheltered west side: Maho Beach, Mullet Bay, Cupecoy, Simpson Bay and Great Bay (Philipsburg) on the Dutch side; Grand-Case, Friar’s Bay, Happy Bay and Baie Rouge on the French side are generally spared, sheltered from the Atlantic swells from the east.

That said, you don’t have to chase "zero sargassum": a beach with light or moderate seaweed is perfectly swimmable. Confirm on the map on the day.

Landings mostly occur from March to October, often peaking between April and August — but the season varies a lot from year to year. Some years are nearly spared, others break records. A landing can last from a few days to several weeks, and a clean beach one morning can get a landing 48 hours later: which is why a daily update beats a seasonal average.

As it decomposes, sargassum releases hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and ammonia, a rotten-egg smell. This mainly concerns heavy, prolonged landings and sensitive people (asthma, infants, pregnant women) — a beach with light to moderate seaweed is generally no problem for a swim. Knowing the day’s risk is the best protection, which is why a smell index accompanies every beach.

Partly. Forecasts rest first on satellite monitoring of the offshore rafts: imagery spots the mats tens of kilometres from shore, giving a few days’ warning depending on currents and trade winds. Longer term, monthly bulletins (NOAA, University of South Florida) estimate how much seaweed is in the Atlantic. FanGass combines these with the official weather bulletins to anticipate, beach by beach — no forecast being 100 % reliable, hence the daily update.

Each beach gets a 0-to-5 score and a color. Green (0-1): clear, go for it. Yellow (2): some seaweed, perfectly swimmable. Orange (3): a moderate, visible amount — but still swimmable; plenty of people go in, your call depending on the day’s smell. Red (4): heavy landing, it stinks, skip it. Black (5): evacuated zone. In short, only red and black beaches are really to avoid; below that, a swim is fine. A smell index (none / light / strong) completes the score.

No need to cancel a holiday in Sint Maarten / Saint-Martin: there’s almost always a swimmable beach, and most stay swimmable even with light to moderate sargassum. The west side (Maho, Mullet, Simpson Bay, Grand-Case) is often the calmest on heavy days; but there’s no need to write off the whole east coast. Best move: check the day’s per-beach score.

Every day, FanGass reads the official monitoring bulletins (Météo-France Antilles, NOAA AOML, the University of South Florida monthly outlook, regional bulletins), cross-checks them against satellite imagery of the offshore rafts, then distills it all into a clear per-beach score. On-the-ground user reports adjust the scores live when several agree. The service is free, offered by the Katchak agency.