Editorial policy

Everything we publish follows five non-negotiable principles: accuracy, independence, transparency, regular updates, and a public correction policy. We do not write to impress; we write to inform. If a paragraph does not add verifiable information, we cut it. If a claim has no source, we do not publish it. If a recommendation is shaped by a commercial agreement, we say so explicitly in context.

Primary sources (always preferred): LANOT-UNAM for satellite-based sargassum detection, NOAA NHC for hurricanes and tropical cyclones, Open-Meteo for weather forecasts, SEMAR for swell and sea state, CONAGUA SMN for the Mexican national weather service, CONANP for regulations and data about the Yum Balam Biosphere Reserve, and NOM-171-SEMARNAT-2018 for whale shark encounter rules.

Secondary sources: prices published directly by operators (verified and refreshed every six months), user reports when they align with observable evidence, and peer-reviewed academic papers on western Caribbean marine ecology.

Tertiary sources: consensus among established travel blogs, used only for qualitative observations (for example, "most visitors describe beach X as calm"), never as a primary source for numbers, dates, or regulations.

Every numerical claim — price, date, temperature range, wave height, species size, distance, duration — is traced back to a primary source and cited in context. When two official sources disagree, we present the full range and explicitly note the uncertainty. For example, if Open-Meteo forecasts 28 C and CONAGUA forecasts 30 C for the same day, we write "28-30 C according to available models" instead of arbitrarily choosing one value.

When a number comes from a commercial operator (for example, a tour price), we say so and flag that it is subject to change without notice. We do not rewrite prices to make them look more attractive than they are.

Live data on the 3D dashboard: automatically updated every five minutes from the feeds of the primary sources listed above.

Editorial prose (these articles): reviewed quarterly. If conditions on the island change (a new regulation, a reintroduced species, a reserve restriction), we update the affected texts immediately and record the modification date.

Prices and fares: refreshed every six months at most. The last review date appears in each page's metadata as article:modified_time.

Nobody gets everything right all the time. If you spot an error — an incorrect fact, an outdated figure, a regulation that has changed, an imprecise translation — write to us at hola@nowcast.day. We will verify the report against primary sources, fix the text if needed, and publicly note the correction with its date. We never delete an error silently: traceability is part of our editorial commitment.

We do not promote tour operators based on the commission rate they pay us. We do not accept paid reviews or sponsored content disguised as editorial. We do not hide ownership relationships (we have none, because we own no hotels, tours, or boats). We do not fabricate expertise: if something is outside our area of knowledge, we say so and point to a specialized source. We do not invent quotes. We do not inflate attractions that, in our honest assessment, are not worth a traveler's time or money.

We use artificial intelligence tools to assist with drafting and initial translation of some sections. All AI-generated output is reviewed by a human editor who verifies every claim against primary sources before publication. No page is published without human review. We do not generate data with AI: data always comes from the sources listed in the hierarchy above.