The summer is often thought of as sun, sand, and turquoise water in South Florida, but one tourist’s recent visit to Miami Beach was quite different. A video showing the tourist’s dismay at the current condition of the shore is going viral, as the beach is not being highlighted for the image that people usually portray of their coastal paradise.
The clip, shared on X, displays a clearly frustrated visitor near Miami Beach, Florida. He is moving his phone camera across the shoreline to show an area of sand and water almost completely covered by brown, bulky sargassum seaweed. High-rise buildings line the distance along with several beach-goers picking their way through piles.
“So we came all the way to Miami, Florida, to go on vacation, and we get here to spend time in the water, just relax, and this is what we’re met with,” the man says in the video.
“Just miles and miles of seaweed everywhere you look. Practically like impossible to even swim. I feel like we just got gypped. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. I thought there was like crystal clear blue waters here.”
The reaction shown by the man reflects a frustration that’s becoming increasingly common among visitors to Florida’s Atlantic coast during the summer months. Recent reports show that sargassum is continuously growing along Miami-Dade and Broward beaches, with 2026 on its way to possibly becoming one of the most difficult sargassum seasons on record along Florida’s coast.
Internet Reacts to Seaweed Covering Miami Beach, Florida
The video sparked debate online, with some sympathizing with the tourist’s disappointment while others pushed back.
One commenter stated, “The clear solution is…………send more money to Ukraine!” while another quipped, “Miami in july is basically a swamp with better lighting.”
Several pointed out that this is far from a new phenomenon. “Welcome to Florida in summer. This has been happing since Florida existed,” one user wrote, while another added, “It happens every year, but it’s been getting worse every year.”
One commenter suggested a practical use for the seaweed: “Collect that stuff, as much as you can, take it home and feed your yard, plants, garden, compost pile. That is pure organic nutrients at its best!!!”
Others backed up the tourists’ complaints about the smell. “I’ve experienced that stench and is unbelievably bad. It’s like smelling acid fumes. It’s unendurable,” one person wrote.
Sargassum is a naturally occurring brown seaweed that travels across the Atlantic Ocean, washing ashore in large clumps before beginning to decompose and release hydrogen sulfide gas, causing the common “rotten egg” odor that beach-goers have described.
Miami-Dade County has a program in place to remove the seaweed from the shoreline. However, given the increase in this year’s amount of sargassum, the clean-up crews are having trouble managing the 15 miles of the county’s managed coastline.
