The beauty of one of the island’s idyllic picnic spots is being spoilt twice over.
River Bay in St Lucy, a beach haunt for tourists and Barbadians, has been plagued by an overabundance of seaweed which has been washing ashore for several months. The matter has been made worse since the sargassum has blocked a gully, leading to an awful stench coming from the stagnant water.
Jermaine Johnson, who lives closest to the beach and the gully, said that some days he cannot open his windows or doors for fear of being choked by the stiffling smell. Sea bathers often turn back because they cannot bathe in the seaweed filled water, neither can they endure the smell coming from the blocked gully.
“This is months now. I went away for a month and returned and it is worse. This happened a year ago and they came and cleared it but not this time. It cool down during the day but at night… Sometimes it could turn your mind from eating. If you didn’t know it was coming from the gully you would think it is something in the house,” said Johnson.
