Live daily seaweed tracker for St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix & the BVI
🛰 Satellite —
⚠ DPNR Active Sargassum Advisory — 2026
DPNR has issued a sargassum advisory for USVI beaches. 2026 is on track to be a record arrival year. Conditions shift rapidly.
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Beach rating
ClearLightModerateHeavyNo data
Sargassum at sea
Light tracesModerate patchesDense mats
Gray = satellite view blocked by cloud cover on today's pass.
📹 Tap a live-camera thumbnail on the map to watch — 4 cams across the USVI & BVI, so you can see the water for yourself right now.
We're still pulling in today's satellite pass, so the beach ratings below may take a moment to load. Sargassum here can shift within hours, so it's worth a quick look at the map before you pick a beach.
Is there sargassum in the Virgin Islands right now?
Yes — 2026 is on track to be a record arrival year and DPNR has an active advisory. The map above shows daily beach-by-beach severity from NOAA/USF satellite data; darker dots mean heavier landings expected today.
Which USVI and BVI beaches get the most sargassum?
East- and southeast-facing shores catch it first because sargassum arrives via the North Equatorial Current. Coki, Sapphire and Lindquist on St. Thomas, Loblolly on Anegada, and Josiah's Bay on Tortola are the most exposed.
Which Virgin Islands beaches stay clear?
West- and north-facing bays sheltered by the island mass — Magens Bay and Morningstar on St. Thomas, Cane Garden Bay on Tortola, The Baths and Spring Bay on Virgin Gorda — are usually the calmest choices even during heavy arrival weeks.
How often is the sargassum map updated?
Beach ratings refresh daily from satellite passes. On cloudy days some pixels drop out and we show the last good reading — the status pill at the top of the page tells you when the data was last updated.
Sargassum in St. Thomas & the wider USVI/BVI right now: the same NOAA satellite feed covers every USVI and BVI beach on this page, so you can see St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda in one view. On St. Thomas the east- and south-facing shores (Coki, Sapphire, Lindquist) take the first arrivals; north- and west-facing bays (Magens, Hull Bay) usually stay clearer. St. John's Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay are typically lightly affected; the BVI's Cane Garden Bay and The Baths track the same directional pattern.
The map above pulls daily satellite readings from the NOAA/USF Atlantic Oceanwatch AFAI 7-day composite. Beach ratings apply a directional exposure model — east- and southeast-facing shores are weighted higher because the sargassum belt arrives via the North Equatorial Current. On cloudy days some pixels drop out and we hold the previous good reading rather than showing a false-clear result.
Sargassum in winter
Arrivals usually peak from spring through late summer and ease from late fall through winter, with November to February typically the clearest months on east-facing beaches. That is the usual pattern, not a forecast: a big year can start early or run late, so the map keeps showing the daily satellite reading all year round.
Beaches most exposed to sargassum
Ranked by long-run directional exposure — how much of an average arrival tends to make landfall here.
Is there sargassum in the Virgin Islands right now?
Yes — 2026 is on track to be a record arrival year and the USVI Department of Planning & Natural Resources has an active sargassum advisory. The live map on VIslandGuide shows daily beach-by-beach severity from NOAA/USF satellite data; east- and southeast-facing shores see the highest accumulation.
When is sargassum season in the Virgin Islands?
Sargassum usually arrives in the Virgin Islands from spring through late summer, peaking roughly April to September. It typically eases from late fall through winter, and November to February is usually the clearest stretch, though big years can bring arrivals earlier or keep them going later. That is the usual pattern, not a forecast: the map above shows the actual daily satellite reading in every month.
Is there sargassum in St. Thomas right now?
St. Thomas's east- and southeast-facing shores — Coki Beach, Sapphire Beach, and Lindquist Beach — catch sargassum first, while north- and west-facing Magens Bay and Morningstar usually stay the clearest. The live map above shows today's beach-by-beach rating for St. Thomas from NOAA/USF satellite data.
Is there sargassum on St. John right now?
On St. John, Salt Pond Bay and Leinster Bay (Waterlemon Cay) on the exposed south and east sides see the most sargassum, while Trunk Bay, Hawksnest, and Cinnamon Bay on the sheltered north shore tend to stay cleanest. Check the map above for today's St. John readings.
Does St. Croix get sargassum?
Yes. St. Croix's windward east end — around Point Udall and Cramer's Park — faces the incoming North Equatorial Current and accumulates the most sargassum, while the sheltered west coast around Frederiksted, including Rainbow Beach, is generally clearer. The map above rates St. Croix beaches daily.
Is there sargassum in the BVI (Tortola & Virgin Gorda) right now?
In the BVI, east-facing beaches like Josiah's Bay on Tortola and Loblolly Bay on Anegada get the heaviest sargassum, while Cane Garden Bay on Tortola's north shore and The Baths and Spring Bay on Virgin Gorda usually stay clear. The map above covers the BVI daily.
Which USVI and BVI beaches get the most sargassum?
Sargassum arrives via the North Equatorial Current from the east, so east- and southeast-facing shores catch it first. Coki Beach, Sapphire Beach, and Lindquist Beach on St. Thomas; Loblolly Bay on Anegada; and Josiah's Bay on Tortola are the most exposed. Salt Pond Bay and Leinster Bay on St. John also receive regular arrivals.
Which Virgin Islands beaches stay clear of sargassum?
West- and north-facing bays sheltered by the island mass are usually the calmest choices even during heavy arrival weeks. Magens Bay and Morningstar on St. Thomas, Hawksnest and Trunk Bay on St. John, Cane Garden Bay on Tortola, and The Baths and Spring Bay on Virgin Gorda tend to remain the cleanest.
How often is the sargassum map updated?
Both the per-beach ratings (from the NOAA/USF AFAI 7-day satellite composite) and the NOAA CoastWatch Sargassum Inundation Risk coastline layer refresh daily. On cloudy days some satellite pixels drop out and the map shows the last good reading rather than a false-clear result; the status pill at the top of the page shows when each layer was last updated.