Every winter and spring, the The Dominican Republic is preparing for the arrival of sargassum: floating mats of brown seaweed drifting west from the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. Once a largely offshore phenomenon, sargassum has become a persistent and increasingly disruptive presence along the Caribbean coasts.
The The 2025 season marked a historic high. Satellite monitoring is roughly recorded 38 million tons of sargassum across the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf regions in May, the highest levels ever observed and nearly doubling the previous record set in 2022. In the Dominican Republic, coastal destinations such as Punta Cana and Bávaro experienced intense sargassum arrivals, prompting extensive clean-up operations.
As 2026 begins, monitoring agencies are already reporting elevated early season indicatorsThis reinforces concerns that the large influx of sargassum is becoming a longer-term reality rather than an occasional anomaly.
Is Sargassum Seaweed Harmful to Humans?
In most cases, sargassum is harmless, but it can cause irritation and rashes in people with sensitive skin.
What causes sargassum seaweed in the Dominican Republic?
The exact cause of the annual seaweed invasion in the Dominican Republic and the rest of the Caribbean has not yet been scientifically proven. Several studies suggest that sargassum growth is linked to global warming, chemicals used in agriculture and human pollution in the ocean.
Sargassum forecast for the Dominican Republic (January 2026)
Latest satellite images of the University of Florida Optical Oceanography Laboratory show an accumulation of sargassum on the Atlantic and southern coasts of the Dominican Republic.
Based on the satellite image, we can predict that there will be little to no amounts of sargassum seaweed in the Punta Cana area over the next 2 to 4 weeks.
Sargassum Season 2026: Latest Reports
January 2026: Latest photos of the beaches in the Dominican Republic
As of January 21, the beaches of the main tourist hotspots around Punta Cana remain clean, but some sudden arrivals have been reported in recent weeks.
Sargassum season 2025: ARCHIVED REPORTS
October 2025: Latest photos and satellite images of Punta Cana and other areas
Latest photos from Sargassum Seaweed Reporting FB group:
The latest satellite image suggests that sargassum arrivals are slowing and are about to stop for the fall and winter season.
July 2025: Latest image reports from FB Reporting Group: Dominican Republic Sargassum Seaweed Reports (Punta Cana, Cabarete, etc.)
Based on University of Florida satellite images, there is still a lot of sargassum seaweed drifting toward the Caribbean, and the season will likely last longer this year.
