Does Key West Get Sargassum?
Florida Keys · United States
Key West gets sargassum, and 2026 was a record year for it - local cleanup contractors reported the heaviest volumes they had ever handled, and USF measured Gulf sargassum in June 2026 at 5.0 million metric tons, nearly double the previous record. The Atlantic-facing south-shore beaches (South Beach, Smathers, Higgs) catch it from roughly May through August, though the city and Monroe County rake the public beaches with heavy equipment about once a day, so the sand is usually groomed by mid-morning. The water near shore is the harder problem, since state rules bar removing sargassum from the water itself.
Sargassum in Key West by month
What to know before you book
- •Beach by beach: South Beach is consistently the worst, Smathers and Higgs are a coin flip (raked sand but often weedy water), and Fort Zachary Taylor on the island's southwestern tip is the best bet because deeper, better-circulating water where the Gulf and Atlantic mix flushes the weed - although the state park does not rake, so what arrives stays.
- •Key West Island News marked 11 May 2026 as the unofficial start of the season, running about four months through August; the Keys sit directly in the path of mats carried up through the Yucatan Current into the Gulf Stream.
- •South-to-southeast winds, the Gulf Stream running close to shore, and spring tides around a new or full moon are the combination that produces the biggest landings, per UF/IFAS Extension Monroe County.
- •Key West is not a sunbathing destination the way Punta Cana is - the reef, the sunset sails, the backcountry flats and Dry Tortugas trips are all unaffected by shoreline sargassum.
- •USF reported the Gulf still at a record high for July 2026 but declining, with amounts expected to keep falling into November, so late fall 2026 should be clear.
Last checked · Sources: Key West Island News, May 2026 - Sargassum season 2026, UF/IFAS Extension Monroe County, Jun 2026 - 2026 Sargassum Inundation Event, WGCU/WUSF Public Media, May 2026 - Record tons of sargassum arriving in the Florida Keys, Keys News (Key West Citizen) - Record sargassum in Key West, company says