Tulum's Beaches Hold On: Sargassum Cleanup Avoids Heavy Machinery Damage

After five years in Tulum, I can say that the town's beaches are a constant source of both beauty and challenge. This summer, the sargassum issue has been making headlines, but the municipality's approach is starting to show some promising results.

Zofemat, the municipal agency responsible for beach management, has taken a more cautious approach to sargassum cleanup, sparing most of the sand by reducing the use of heavy machinery. The shoreline director, David Buchanan, attributes this to a better-coordinated effort involving the Secretaría de Marina and the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas. This strategy has helped maintain the sand width, which is crucial for the town's image and tourism.

While the machinery has not completely disappeared, it now focuses on areas where trucks cannot reach, and even then, the instruction is to lift algae, not sand. This means more handwork and fewer passes with equipment, a slower but effective method on a long coastline.

Despite these efforts, some sand still gets dragged away. Collected material is trucked to a disposal site, sieved, and the sand is returned to the shore. By mid-July, over 2,800 tons had been removed, nearly double the amount from the same period in 2025. The sargassum season is far from over, with the heaviest window between May and September, so there's still much to watch.

For expats and digital nomads like myself, this means staying informed about the beach conditions and planning accordingly. The beaches are still beautiful, but visitors and residents should be prepared for regular sargassum cleanup activities, which can sometimes affect local access.