Seaweed all over Satellite, Cocoa Beach: What Brevard beaches look like in summer 2023 & what to do

Jennifer Sangalang, Florida Today
Updated ·4 min read
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Two very Brevard things to do, both momentarily tainted by sargassum seaweed.

We're talking about a recent trip to a Space Coast beach to view the crewed Axiom-2 launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station on May 21, 2023, and the traditional "cap and gowns beach walk" for the Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High class of 2023, ahead of graduation.

A trip to the beach sounds so fun, so picture-perfect, something friends and family up North may be a little envious of − the blue skies, beautiful water, colorful umbrellas in the sand. But then we got there and saw ... brown seaweed. Crunchy, dry, semi-stinky sargassum seaweed. In the water. On the shore. On the sand.

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The sargassum seaweed is noticeably evident on Brevard beaches. Here's what the seaweed situation looks like in this area and things to know about it.

Sargassum seaweed near Satellite Beach, Florida

On Sunday, May 21, in Satellite Beach, about a mile north of Pineda Causeway on SR A1A, a blob roughly the size of a king-size comforter was swirling in the ocean waves.

In the water, sargassum is considered harmless to people.

Sargassum seaweed in Cocoa Beach, Florida

On May 23, during a Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High class of 2023 beach walk, family, friends and senior students avoided stepping on sargassum seaweed amid photos, video, TikToks and Instagram Reels. The beach walk to nearby Minutemen Causeway is a new tradition for the Cocoa Beach high school senior class.

It started in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, when all school activities were canceled nationwide including graduations. Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High celebrated with a beach walk in their graduation caps and gowns. The novel event became a tradition and on Thursday afternoon, the day before their official graduation, the class of 2023 took a walk down the beach in their cap and gowns, the principal leading the way.

Sargassum seaweed at South Beach Park in Vero Beach, Florida

On a recent beach trip to Brevard's neighbor, Indian River County, (Sebastian Inlet separates the counties) brown seaweed was scattered across the sand at Humiston Beach Park in Vero Beach, especially during low tide. Beachgoers navigated to openings in the sand or pushed away the seaweed to set up for the day. That's what it's been like lately to deal with sargassum seaweed if you go to a Florida beach. Days before the Memorial Day weekend, it was noticeably bad on Treasure Coast beaches. Take a look in the photo gallery above.

Sargassum seaweed now in Pensacola. The seaweed sitch on Pensacola Beach is no cause for concern, experts say. Here's why

What is sargassum seaweed?

Spectators in Cape Canaveral watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:37 p.m. EDT from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on the Axiom-2 astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The first-stage booster landed at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zone 1 about eight minutes after launch.
Spectators in Cape Canaveral watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:37 p.m. EDT from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on the Axiom-2 astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The first-stage booster landed at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zone 1 about eight minutes after launch.

Sargassum is a species of large brown seaweed, a type of macroalgae that floats in large masses.

On some beaches in Florida, the "blobs" of crunchy, dry, brown stinky seaweed are fairly large. In one of our photo galleries below, you'll see a small "mountain" of sargassum seaweed, and a black dog posing next to it. It's in the water, on the shore, surrounding beachgoers who just want to play in the sand.

When is 'seaweed season' in Florida?

Sargassum seaweed tends to appear in Florida beaches in the spring, with a peak in June.

Seaweed 'blobs' in Florida. Is sargassum dangerous to humans?

In the water, sargassum is considered harmless to people.

On land, sargassum begins to rot and produces smelly hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, which can irritate eyes, ears, and noses. People with asthma or other breathing illnesses may have trouble breathing if they inhale too much of it.

In open areas like beaches, however, moving air usually dilutes the gas to non-harmful levels.

The seaweed also contains tiny sea creatures, such as jellyfish larvae, that can irritate your skin on contact.

Seaweed season? Giant mats of seaweed lurk off Florida coast and have beached in spurts but will peak soon

Oy! Sargassum, a smelly seaweed, may be coming soon to a Gulf beach near you. What to know about it

Can't see the TikTok? Click on this link.

Contributing: George Petras and Jennifer Borresen, USA TODAY; Adam Neal, TCPalm

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Sargassum seaweed in Florida: What to do if you see brown blob in ocean