Caribbean/Florida's Gulf hazard incoming arsenic laden Sargassum seaweed nightmare

[Japonicus]

A serious oceanic issue heading for the Caribbean and Gulf Coast of Florida.
Sargassum an arsenic laden seaweed blob 5,000 miles long. Sometimes 5-6 feet deep on the beaches.
Barbados reported last week 1,600 dump truck loads per day to clean the beaches.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/sargassum-seaweed-blob-explained-florida-scn/index.html
...and just 2 days ago, I talked my wife out of a retirement getaway to the Gulf Coast where we love to vacation.

So if you have plans to travel here for the beaches, might rethink that.

 

[Carol 83]

I just read the article, looks like it will hit Florida in July. Yippee, I'm so glad we just booked our anniversary trip to Key West, for JULY!!

 

[HorseloverFat]

I saw this.I wonder if it's solid enough to walk on?

I think there's an H.P.Lovecraft story with similar imagery... I'm going to try to find it.

 

[Japonicus]

We were near Pensacola a few short years back vacationing, and the algae was nasty.
I think they called it the red tide. When we had an onshore wind it burned our eyes and irritated
the respiratory system. It had a bit of a sting to the smell if that makes sense.

Another time in May, the seaweed was thick along the shoreline.
Locals called it June grass that came a month early.
I know I have pics somewhere.

 

[HorseloverFat]

We were near Pensacola a few short years back vacationing, and the algae was nasty.
I think they called it the red tide. When we had an onshore wind it burned our eyes and irritated
the respiratory system. It had a bit of a sting to the smell if that makes sense.

Another time in May, the seaweed was thick along the shoreline.
Locals called it June grass that came a month early.
I know I have pics somewhere.

I have heard of red tide.

 

[SWfloirda]

These pictures are from 2019 from a canal next to a restaurant I was going to eat at. It is hard to describe but there were fumes in the air from it, made it hard to talk and our eyes were burning, we decided to eat somewhere else. Made me almost happy I can't afford to live right on the water. I've been to the beach with the washed up seaweed, that's tolerable although I think this year is supposed to be one of the worst.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Yeah, these seaweed/algae tides are brutal.
In Tulum 2 yrs ago, the seaweed would pile up 2-3 feet daily. Meanwhile, workers are constantly wheel barrowing it away. The smell. Off gassing, decaying seaweed kills the vibe as well.

 

[Carol 83]

irritated
the respiratory system. It had a bit of a sting to the smell if that makes sense.is new stuff

This new stuff is supposed to be that also, just great.

 

[Carol 83]

Off gassing, decaying seaweed kills the vibe as well.

Sounds like a great anniversary trip. We were going to go the Bahama's, same deal there. I guess we could always go to Wisconsin to visit @HorseloverFat and get shot or knifed!

 

[HorseloverFat]

Sounds like a great anniversary trip. We were going to go the Bahama's, same deal there. I guess we could always go to Wisconsin to visit @HorseloverFat and get shot or knifed!

You can travel and stay AWAY from the bad areas... Just like Chicago...

My ..um.. "budget".. just places my visited locations in the "lower income areas".. near the centers of the town..

It's like this in many a larger town... The "ghettoes" form where people are MANY and funds are few... Normally this equates to older, poorly kept buildings/complexes bought and then rented through HUD or other housing development...

This attracts MORE impoverished people to the area.. and it feeds itself. As more people squeeze in, less chance of getting out, access to opportunities dwindles...
...but drugs, robbery and prostitution always "pays/pay".

In Wisconsin... The "poor demographic" got very different as my generation blew through. Young people like myself held positions of power in the various local "criminal syndicates", as well as considered "normal, functioning members of society"...

My generation lost control and all wanted to be "Scarface"... Or "George Young".. and most became slaves to the very world they were trying to control.

Wisconsin ended up a "perfect storm"
.. where MOST general areas with populations around 10,000 and higher have these criminal hotbeds, and increased felonious traffick.

...

When I moved here, the West side of Green Bay, near and encompassing the Oneida reservation, was considered the "bad side of town"... And slowly over 10 years, the East Central Area (East Town) took that title.

It was sad realizing that it wasn't like the crime on the West Side DEcreasing that changed this tally...but the ENORMOUS spike on the East.

Sorry... Just sad for humans n' stuff..

Ya'll know me.

 

[HorseloverFat]

My parents say the locals aren't too concerned about the event.

Sad and sick, yes...

But will come and go.. like others.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Sounds like a great anniversary trip. We were going to go the Bahama's, same deal there. I guess we could always go to Wisconsin to visit @HorseloverFat and get shot or knifed!

OR "double-axed"... Can't forget that one.

 

[Japonicus]

It can be pit near calm as a lake sometimes in the Gulf which compounds the problem
and why I mention some good storms. I could go out 75 feet here and sit down or stand on my knees
on a sand bar without the water coming over my face.
However I wonder if the counterclockwise motion of a
TD or full on hurricane from the Atlantic could shove more into the Gulf that otherwise may've been dispersed
a bit more evenly. I don't know, just curious. Haven't seen the location and predicted path yet.

 

[Carol 83]

Just like Chicago...

I was just joking, not trying to disparage your state. I know everyone thinks of Chicago when thinking of Illinois but I am probably 5 hours from Chicago. I've been there a couple of times but many years ago. But I am only 30 minutes or so from St. Louis where the crime has really gotten out of hand too.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I was just joking, not trying to disparage your state. I know everyone thinks of Chicago when thinking of Illinois but I am probably 5 hours from Chicago. I've been there a couple of times but many years ago. But I am only 30 minutes or so from St. Louis where the crime has really gotten out of hand too.

Haha! No offense taken.. it can get ugly here. As I said before, "The bullet is the state bird."

I just didn't want to discourage any kind of travel... Because A TON of Wisconsin is really nice and calm... JUST like you picture it.

Any large port cities will be olllld and full of shenanigans... I just live by one.

 

[Colt Carson]

I haven’t been to Destin, Florida (on the panhandle) in a couple years. Prior to that we went every year for the previous decade and the water was always beautiful. But also, we never went during the hottest part of the summer.

 

[0soyoung]

No arsenic, just lots of old lace.

 

[JudyB]

Sounds like a great anniversary trip. We were going to go the Bahama's, same deal there. I guess we could always go to Wisconsin to visit @HorseloverFat and get shot or knifed!

Try coastal Oregon. We love it in the winter.

 

[Underdog]

Red Tide is nothing new on the Gulf Coast. I remember it well in the 70s as a kid. Beach covered in dead fish.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Well, at least your beach water is blue and clear, most of the times. Ours is brown and murky because of the peat deposits up north.