The Traveller's Magazine
If you’re planning on spending your holidays lazing on a beach in the Caribbean, you could be in for a big stink!
Travellers booking flights to Kingston in Jamaica might be in for a surprise if they think they’ll be spending their holidays lazing on a postcard-perfect beach with fine golden sand. They’ll find the sand, but it will be buried under a thick layer of stinky seaweed!
The Caribbean’s beautiful beaches are being increasingly fouled by carpets of rotting seaweed that has washed up on shores and it’s attracting plenty of sand flies… not to mention the smell!
Seaweed has always washed up on the shores but researchers say that algae blooms have exploded in recent years. This year’s seaweed crop is the biggest they’ve ever seen. It’s so bad that tourists are cancelling their trips because of it. Emergency clean-up crews are hitting beaches everywhere, including Mexico, Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
Planning a trip to the Caribbean? Be sure to check that your hotel’s beach isn’t a stinky seaweedy mess before you go!
