Almaplena since the shutdown-questions

[bguppies]

1 hour ago, c-leg5 said:

I think you are missing the point about sargassum to some degree. It isn’t generally year-round. It is seasonal with some years much worse than others.

 

However, it does predominantly affect east coast beaches (of many islands and mainland coasts). Therefore it will affect all the coast along Costa Maya and Mahahual unless for some reason there is a protected inlet. You only have to read TripAdvisor reviews to realize Almaplena is not exempt.

Hadn't seen any videos or reports showing the sargassum at Almaplena. Saw 2 videos and neither had ANY sargassum in sight.(but like I said all I could find was 2 really old videos)

 

I saw probably 100 videos of the various clubs on the Malecon and Maya Chan and not one video had clean beaches and water.

All videos were since the restart and I could not decipher any seasonality, as I saw videos from all months in there, including last December when we are going this year and every video from November and December had sargassum.

 

I assumed that sargassum is seasonal like horseshoe crabs and jellyfish at other beaches.

I just couldn't find any resource to say when the worst months are in Mahahual are.

 

I have only been once in April 2014 and it was present but not as bad as I have seen in the videos.

I truly hope the farmers in the area are able to use the sargassum for compost or fertilizer of some kind.

 

I truly appreciate all the help. 

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by bguppies

[AmandaKaye79]

These are from various times at Almaplena.

Edited September 16, 2022 by AmandaKaye79

[bguppies]

What time of year was that? (We are trying to figure out early December)

 

It looks amazing.

 

The water seems to have much less seaweed than any pictures I've seen of Maya Chan or any of the clubs in town.

Am I crazy or not?

Edited September 16, 2022 by bguppies

[AmandaKaye79]

November

[bguppies]

Thank You.

Looks good for our early December trip this year.

 

Appreciate all the help.

[mkmom514]

On 9/15/2022 at 12:18 PM, bguppies said:

Hadn't seen any videos or reports showing the sargassum at Almaplena. Saw 2 videos and neither had ANY sargassum in sight.(but like I said all I could find was 2 really old videos)

 

I saw probably 100 videos of the various clubs on the Malecon and Maya Chan and not one video had clean beaches and water.

All videos were since the restart and I could not decipher any seasonality, as I saw videos from all months in there, including last December when we are going this year and every video from November and December had sargassum.

 

I assumed that sargassum is seasonal like horseshoe crabs and jellyfish at other beaches.

I just couldn't find any resource to say when the worst months are in Mahahual are.

 

I have only been once in April 2014 and it was present but not as bad as I have seen in the videos.

I truly hope the farmers in the area are able to use the sargassum for compost or fertilizer of some kind.

 

I truly appreciate all the help. 

 

We went to Maya Chan October 2021. It was our first and last time there. The staff are wonderful but the water was nasty. It was brown like a muddy river and the smell was awful. Lots of sea grass. Took two washings to get the stain and smell out of our swimsuits.

[c-leg5]

Just now, mkmom514 said:

We went to Maya Chan October 2021. It was our first and last time there. The staff are wonderful but the water was nasty. It was brown like a muddy river and the smell was awful. Lots of sea grass. Took two washings to get the stain and smell out of our swimsuits.

Sorry that was your experience. Do keep in mind it is seasonal. We have been to Maya Chan when it was fine and also not so great like your experience. 
 

The owners at Maya Chan do usually provide updates  before your arrival and photos at pick up point and even offer a refund if you arrive and immediately assess that you don’t like it and do not want to stay.
 

Keep in mind if it is bad at Maya Chan chances are high that it will be bad at all locations in and around Mahahual. You will even have a good idea just sailing in and at the port.
 

There may be some slight variances from place to place. Some places have more staff than others to deal with it (Maya Chan tries hard to remove but I agree it can be overwhelming) and some places in town have some protection from offshore baffles provided by the government.

[bguppies]

13 hours ago, mkmom514 said:

We went to Maya Chan October 2021. It was our first and last time there. The staff are wonderful but the water was nasty. It was brown like a muddy river and the smell was awful. Lots of sea grass. Took two washings to get the stain and smell out of our swimsuits.

That is exactly our concern. Why I'm doing my best to ascertain what the conditions will be like the first week of December.

 

If we were just getting off the ship and walking to the end of the pier and conditions were bad it would be one thing. (this is with one of us with a walker)

But getting off the ship walking the long pier, then walking through the entire pier area and out to a cab or ride to Maya Chan or Almaplena, then ride into town or out to a resort then finding out that the conditions are bad would kill the whole day.

 

Thanks for chiming in.

[crewsweeper]

keep in mind that both Almaplena and Hayhu are a lot further south of the malecon than Maya Chan and the currents that bring the sargassum from the Caribbean and Atlantic flow past whereas the Costa Maya/Mahaual juts out a bit and redirects the currents.  Also the drop off shore is closer so deeper water.  Mahahual is very shallow. Not saying that either will have no sargassum, but less.  

[bguppies]

31 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

keep in mind that both Almaplena and Hayhu are a lot further south of the malecon than Maya Chan and the currents that bring the sargassum from the Caribbean and Atlantic flow past whereas the Costa Maya/Mahaual juts out a bit and redirects the currents.  Also the drop off shore is closer so deeper water.  Mahahual is very shallow. Not saying that either will have no sargassum, but less.  

That's what I was hoping after watching the hundreds of videos of Mahahual and Maya Chan versus the 2 or 3 I could find of Almaplena.

I've yet to be able to find any videos with no Sargassum in Mahahual, just decent days versus horrible days. (Cozumel seems to be a much shorter season for seaweed each year Maybe due to thye depth differences between the two areas)

If I could find out for sure that the Sargassum isn't bad the first week of December in Mahahual, we might just go to Maya Chan. (walk to the ride would be the toughest)

Neither of us is big on swimming in the ocean, the smell of piles of seaweed baking in the sun all day is more worrisome to us. (our 1 bad day at Nachi Cocum was from the smell of the seaweed baking all day)