From satellites reports of growing fields of Sargassum in the Atlantic first came 2018 and since then it has been an ever growing problem.

Allthough this is a seaweed using sun+photosynthesis to consume carbondioxide,producing oxygen,it´s more of a local ecological problem once washed ashore.

All the Island nations of the Caribbean are now struggling with this problem of large amounts Sargassum washed ashored,rottening and producing hydrogen sulphur. Moreover large fields of Sargassum create local ecological problems for marine life it covers.

The reason for this explosion of Sargassum is mainly overnutrition from the great rivers of Missisippi,Kongo river and Amazonas where huge amount of soy is grown using large amounts of nutrients (eg. nitrogen and phospate). A contributing factor is also believed to be global warming.

For us it was a big surprise to notice all these large fields of Sargassum never noticed when sailing the Caribbean decades earlier (except when crossing the Sargasso Sea to Bermuda) and a reminder that we live in the era of anthrophocene.

In the foreground Grand and Petit Piton, the most significant part of the St Lucia skyline.