Sargassum at Playa Tarará (Havana): today's reading
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Playa Tarará opens the string of Playas del Este: it is the first beach you meet when leaving Havana eastward, backed by the small seaside town of Tarará and its marina. Habaneros know it well, and visitors use it as a quieter alternative to the busier sands further along the coast.
Here you can follow the beach day by day: a 0 to 5 score reworked every morning, a map of the Playas del Este sector and the recent history of the shoreline. Handy when weighing whether to stay at Tarará or continue to Santa María del Mar next door.
Playa Tarará on the sargassum map
What to know about this beach
Pointing due north at the Florida Strait, this shore belongs to Cuba's Atlantic face. Sargassum rafts do not come straight off the Caribbean: they loop around the island with the Old Bahama Channel currents before tracking along the Havana coastline as conditions allow. The outcome is an irregular pattern of arrivals, sometimes out of step with the island's southern shores.
Within the Havana monitoring zone, Tarará holds the western end, closest to the capital, with Santa María del Mar, Boca Ciega and Guanabo strung out to the east. Being first in line does not mean being hit first: a single episode can settle unevenly along the Playas del Este, so the score here can differ from a beach a few kilometres away.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tarará hit more or less than the other Playas del Este?
All four monitored beaches share the same north-facing exposure on the Florida Strait, yet episodes rarely spread evenly. Use the sector map to compare each beach's morning score before choosing.
Can I check the beach from Havana before driving out?
Yes, that is the point of this page: the 0 to 5 score is recalculated every morning from satellite imagery of the sector, so a quick look saves you a pointless drive east.
Is there a sargassum season on Cuba's north coast?
Arrivals follow the pulses of the Old Bahama Channel currents more than a fixed calendar, with more activity when the wider Atlantic is loaded. The page history shows how that translates at Tarará.