Reports of massive sargassum bloom (seaweed) Is diving affected in PDC?

[Dash]

Ill be in PDC in a few weeks and staying at an Iberostar while diving with Dressel. Looking at Tripadvisor, there are multiple real-time reports, with webcam pics, of sargassum covering the beaches. This is all over..not just PDC. Cancun, Coz, Tulum...

Apparently its bad this year but fluctuates day-to-day. Some resorts try to remove it from the beaches, but the water is sometimes unswimmable according to people who live there or have traveled recently. Im just wandering if this affects diving?

These are all off-shore boat dives so wouldnt expect it to affect much at depth. But im also signing up my girlfriend for a Open Water course there and dont want the conditions to affect that negatively.

Just thought Id ask for anyone who dives there regularly. Thanks

 

[Esprise Me]

There was a lot on the beaches when I went in December, and getting into the water from the beach, whether to go swimming or just to walk a few steps to the dive boat, was kind of icky. But it didn't impact my diving.

 

[ibj40]

We are in Puerto Aventuras right now and just did two ocean dives. Sargassum isn't an issue with respect to diving, but some of the beaches and inlets and coves are heavily impacted.

 

[Dash]

Great, thanks!

 

[ibj40]

We are in Puerto Aventuras right now and just did two ocean dives. Sargassum isn't an issue with respect to diving, but some of the beaches and inlets and coves are heavily impacted.

I'd like to update this after our second day of two ocean dives.

The area has just experienced about a week of pretty high winds and heavy seas. This has appeared to have impacted the water quality and visibility, especially in the top 10 to 20 feet of the water column. Not sure how much the sargassum is contributing.

The murkiness is limiting sunlight penetration down onto the reef, thereby affecting how the colors of the reef usually shine. We've been coming down here for over a decade, and it is the worst we have ever experienced.

So far, we didn't notice any impact on reef life or fish populations, but was a little disconcerting nonetheless.

 

[Griffo]

I spent April trekking around the Yucatan peninsular, and literally the only beach that wasn't significantly impacted was in Mahahual. But that really only affected swimming, not diving at all. There were days though that you could not swim at all, or even stay at the beach due to the smell. Very sad.