VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — If you are heading to the beach in Volusia County this weekend, you might run into a stinky surprise.

Sargassum seaweed started washing up last night, covering miles of Volusia County’s shoreline as far as the eye can see. 

That's not what Hayden Willard expected for his family vacation to Daytona Beach.

“At first I was a little disappointed because it is a lot, it is a lot of seaweed,” said Hayden Willard, a beachgoer visiting from Knoxville. 

Capt. AJ Miller with Volusia County Beach Safety said the seaweed appeared almost overnight.

"It snuck up on us yeah," he said. 

Miller said its the result of a perfect combination of high winds, high tides, and choppy surf —  making for a smelly situation on the sand.

“Especially with the hotter it gets, is starts baking in the sun, I’d say it would be aggravating,” said Willard. 

Despite the annoyance, Miller said he’s happy this happened.

“I know a lot of people aren’t fond of it because as it starts to degrade it gets a little stinky, but the benefit of that is, as it starts to degrade, if we keep this wind, all the wind blown sand will get collected in the seaweed and that what is actually builds up the elevation of our beach," Miller said. "So we’ll actually get a higher beach because of this in preparation, in the off chance we get sand removed from high surf."

According to Miller, the seaweed will likely be here to stay for a few weeks, before it moves up to the dunes and gets buried. As for Willard, he says his family will just make the best of it. 

"I haven't been to the beach in a long time so I just wanted clear views," he said. "It is a lot of seaweed, but its not really too bad."

 ​If you are heading to the beach this weekend, beach safety recommends swimming near a lifeguard stand. They said the choppy conditions that are bringing in all this seaweed will punch holes in the sandbars, creating dangerous rip currents.