Visitors from around the world are reveling in Miami\u2019s World Cup games and events, spirited soccer watch parties and steamy weather.<\/p>\n
They are less enthused about the masses of sargassum seaweed coating South Florida beaches and turning the aqua ocean the color of watery coffee. The brown tangles smell of rotten eggs as they bake under the scorching sun. Flies swarm the piles as tourists pluck itch-inducing strands from their hair and bathing suits.<\/p>\n
Kirsty Douglas and her family flew from Scotland to attend World Cup matches in two states. They visited South Beach for the first time on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t sure if this was normal,\u201d Ms. Douglas, 40, said. \u201cIt was like walking on a sponge getting into the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her children were collecting the seaweed in piles as a game. But it\u2019s been no fun for South Florida tourism officials and businesses to watch the sargassum wash ashore just as thousands of people arrive for World Cup festivities and other early-summer pursuits.<\/p>\n
The seasonal problem is not new, but it has gotten worse in recent years.<\/p>\n
Sargassum is a naturally occurring algae that grows in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. But starting in 2011, researchers believe, it began spreading amid shifting wind and sea currents. Since then, a patch of the algae has grown explosively<\/a>, stretching in a gigantic belt from the west coast of Africa toward the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n Scientists remain divided on why, said Matthieu Le H\u00e9naff, a NOAA research oceanographer. Some theorize particles from dust storms and wildfires in Africa, or agricultural fertilizer in river runoff, may be fueling the algae growth.<\/p>\n Whatever the reasons, the blobs have wreaked havoc on beaches across the Caribbean and Florida in recent years. Researchers estimate<\/a> the sargassum blooms may be costing the state\u2019s economy billions of dollars because of its impact on the tourism and fishing industries.<\/p>\n While the Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo was filmed<\/a> shirtless and sculpted this month on the sands of Palm Beach, with little seaweed visible, social media has been flooded with images<\/a> farther south of beachgoers wading through brownish waters clogged with the stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so uncomfortable,\u201d said Eduardo Mujica, a Colombian tourist who was sunbathing with his family on Tuesday in Miami Beach before attending the FIFA Fan Festival in downtown Miami. \u201cMy daughters didn\u2019t want to go in the water because they were afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n Large amounts of sargassum began washing up on South Florida beaches in April and May, earlier than usual, marring Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n