And why does the Mexican Caribbean have turquoise colors? There are different factors that determine the impressive colors of the Caribbean Sea, let's look

To speak of the Mexican Caribbean is to make it the wonderful colors that dress it. We immediately felt bewitched by the Caribbean for its spectacular colors. We are going to know why the Mexican Caribbean has turquoise colors, and for that we will start with the basics.

There are several factors that determine the color of the water of the seas, oceans, rivers, lakes, lagoons, cenotes. Each place has its own characteristics that make us see the water in different colors.

Let's be curious

turquoise colors caribbean sea

What color is the water?

The water is blue. The blue color of the water is due to the selective absorption of light. When light passes through the water, it absorbs the wavelengths in different ways, the red ones being absorbed and the blue ones (the complementary one) those that penetrate the water. Hence its color.

Why do we sometimes see the colorless water?

The water in small quantities, as in a glass of water, the blue is barely perceived because the amount of water is small so that the absorption of the radiation is appreciated. In larger volumes, we do see it.

You can notice it filling a bathtub with water, here you already begin to notice a faint blue. The greater the volume of water, the greater the amount of red absorption, and the more blue it looks.

Caribbean Sea

Why the Mexican Caribbean has turquoise colors?

The depth, which gives volume to the sea, marks the more or less intense blues. The Mexican Caribbean has constant depth changes, due to the nearby barrier of coral that creates different reefs and sand of uneven depths.

In the same way the surface also gives one or other colors. So we can appreciate the turquoise blue colors blend in the wonderful Caribbean Sea.

A basic factor in determining color is the transparency of the water, which occurs when water contains few substances in suspension or few organisms. The most intense blue occurs in crystal clear waters, it reaches its highest purity. The organisms reduce the penetration of light into the water, that is, its transparency, making the waters greener.

Do not miss the 8 best beaches in the Mexican Caribbean

The Mexican Caribbean is a sea with few organisms, a very transparent sea, which means a very blue sea. If you take photos in the transparent Caribbean waters, it will be difficult to remove the intense predominant blue. The deeper the blue, the dominant blue in your photographs.

When sunlight falls on seawater, part of its radiation is absorbed and transformed into heat, and the other part is dispersed by the water itself. water molecules. It is where the minerals of the limestone rock are dissolved, which help to tint the Caribbean with a special intense turquoise.

In the Chiapas region we also observe these turquoise colors. The same rock is limestone: its minerals and the condition of crystalline waters give us these intense and beautiful colors.

caribbean sea colors
Why does the Mexican Caribbean have turquoise colors? 1
Greenish brown water due to the amount of microorganisms that do not let blue light penetrate.
Mexican Caribbean has turquoise colors

White sand on the Caribbean beaches

La White sand from this Mexican coast it helps to reflect in a more pure way, without predominant, the blue color. The limestone rock mantle of the Mexican Caribbean has minerals that are soluble in water. These limestone rock minerals are fundamental in the color of the Caribbean Sea as we have seen.

The Caribbean parrotfish is one of the elements that helps in the process of creating white sand.

mexican caribbean white sand
why the color of the caribbean sea

Other factors that give water color

The physicochemical characteristics of the sea, such as its salinity or its temperature, also shape the colors. It has been proven that in the seas with cold waters the light penetrates less, at 400 meters the most complete darkness invades you. 

Blue frequencies can travel many meters through the clear, warm and deep waters of the Caribbean.

The geographical situation also affects the colors, and the position of the sun. The best time to appreciate the colors of the Caribbean Sea is the solar hours of the zenith, when the sun is higher. It is when the water absorbs greater beam of light, and more blue penetrates the water.

Mexican Caribbean has turquoise colors

There are many factors that come together in a mathematical way to create the beauty of the colors of the Mexican Caribbean. An exquisite pleasure to savor this transparent Caribbean of entangling blues.

Good way,

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Sandra Salvadó Training photographer, traveler by vocation and certified tourism guide by the Government of Mexico. We promote natural wonders and contemporary Mayan culture. Great fan of pre-Hispanic history. Author of the blog and co-founder of The Shortest Path Travel, agency that guides you through alternative paths in Mayan lands. Social and sustainable tourism in the Yucatan Peninsula and Chiapas.
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