WE used to hate north winds

[cvchief]

T I wonder if there is some scientific explanation other than just blaming it on Global Warming?

"Some scientists said the reason behind the massive seaweed increase began as early as 2011, when ocean temperatures warmed and changes in ocean currents occurred because of climate change. Other researchers claim increased land-based nutrients and pollutants washing into the water, including nitrogen-heavy fertilizers and sewage wastes, helped fuel the algae blooms. There are also a number of scientists that have linked the sargassum influx to a high flow of nutrients from South America’s Amazon and Orinoco Rivers mixing with warmer ocean temperatures. "

What Is Sargassum? Smelly Seaweed Invasion Declared An Emergency In The Caribbean


Another interesting read: Beautiful Caribbean beaches now a smelly mess after massive seaweed invasion - The Washington Post


Makes me wonder if Cozumel will maybe benefit in some fashion from having so much of the infrastructure on the west side protected from much of it most of the time?

 

[Zman96]

Yummy! What a welcome to first time visitors arriving via the ferry. When we flew in back in the spring I was amazed how much was out floating in the channel. Looking forward to seeing the difference next week.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Dear Chief,

I would agree that Cozumel may have a competitive advantage in that we so seldom have a west wind that causes this mess. That plus it is no problem for diving. I think we had 4 days in the spring and now this has been going on since Saturday. As soon as the wind gets back to normal it will clear up. But not even a hint of a hurricane this year—for me that is a pretty good trade.

Dave Dillehay

Aldora Divers

ALDORA DIVERS

---------- Post added October 6th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ----------

Just checked up north and they (Playa Azul) have it now. Windgru.com shows the wind shifting back to normal by Wednesday night so we should be pretty clear by the weekend.

Dave

 

[mmmbelows]

First lionfish, now seaweed... expect a PADI seaweed gathering certification course shortly...

 

[lionfish-eater]

Sometimes we will fill up a 5 gal bucket with sargassum and sift through it for little critters while returning from a dive. It can be a floating incubator for small crabs and other critters. No PADI card needed.

 

[Skittl1321]

First lionfish, now seaweed... expect a PADI seaweed gathering certification course shortly...

I was pretty impressed to see the stand up paddle board folks at Mr. Sanchos paddling around gathering sea weed from the water (though there wasn't too much that day) in between trying to drum up business from the beach goers.

 

[cvchief]

AND sand fleas apparently love to live in the stuff, so beach walks are more fun!

 

[Dave Dillehay]

It is 3:30 pm on Wednesday and I am happy to report that, as expected, our trade wind is back and blowing big gobs of that disgusting stuff back to Cancun and Playa. They have had it bad all year, here in Cozumel we are lucky to only have had it for 9 days in 2015. Downtown clean up crews are mopping up but it is gonna be tough to get all that stuff out of the rocks. BTW, the military is involved in the clean up. For the east side of Cozumel I've given up hope for a while, but beach diving and snorkeling on our beautiful west (normal) side is again wide open.

Dave Dillehay