On our last full day on island we wanted to get one last Simpson Bay Beach walk in. We parked at Karakters because we lost our parking privileges at BSV lol. We grabbed 2 waters from the bar and headed towards BSV. As you can see another wave of sargassum has arrived. The winds have been S or SW and will continue through tomorrow, not good. So since Carol has been asking about the drop off to the beach I took pics of every villa from the beach and if you expand them you can see the difference. It seems to be better towards the pool end. We returned to Karakters and gave up on the full walk because you can't find sea glass when this is happening. It was all the way from BSV to Le Papillon. As you can see in the pictures Emmanuel and crew have been on the clean up as best they can. We feel so bad for them.
Yes, that make sense, and I believe they are flying WestJet direct to Toronto, which flies into SXM three days a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.
The sargassum looks worse than I have ever seen it in the Bay itself and on Simpson Bay Beach. But I am normally down in January and February, so generally outside the peak times for sargassum.
I am not sure why old pics were posted last night to give an update on Beachside Villas beach when this is the current status of the beach taken at 10am today 4-23-23. Photos should be verified before posting to ensure that it is accurate information. Our beach is cleaned every morning.
The pictures posted at the top of the thread were taken yesterday afternoon and posted yesterday evening, as stated by the original poster. Obviously the crew at BSV did a nice job cleaning up the Sargassum.
I am not sure why old pics were posted last night to give an update on Beachside Villas beach when this is the current status of the beach taken at 10am today 4-23-23. Photos should be verified before posting to ensure that it is accurate information. Our beach is cleaned every morning.
Thanks for clarifying, Whale Tail. I'd forgotten that Air Transat also flies into SXM on Sundays. And I don't know why someone from BSV has their bee in a bonnet about pictures of sargassum on the beach before they had time to finish cleaning it up. I stay further east on Simpson Bay Beach and I and everyone else knows that BSV does a good job of keeping their section of the beach in good shape. Sargassum happens everywhere. You can't easily prevent it. It was just an unusual amount for that part of the island, but glad to see BSV did their usual good job of cleaning it up quickly. No need to question the authenticity of the pictures taken!!
Re BSV - IMHO it is one of the BEST places to stay on Sint Maarten and over the years weāve stayed at many of them.
With reference to the dreaded Sargassum, it is really Mother Natureās way of getting even with all of us. There is no way to stop its progress and what might be a pristinely clean beach in the morning, with any serious wind shift, can be a morass of ugliness the same afternoon. It is what it is butā¦ā¦....
Being a relatively early riser, when the Sargassum is any issue at all, Emmanuel st BSV and his crew generally have it all raked up and carted away before most guests have arisen.
Many mornings Iāve gone outside around sixish to see them all working hard and most of the grass heaped up on the beach awaiting bagging and being carted away.
Obviously, there will be the occasional invasion that canāt be gotten rid of that quickly and you have to wait for MN to do her handiwork. Fortunately for us, weāve only experienced Sargassum a few times and never a severe invasion.
Respectfully,
pat
"Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them."