truth about bugs on roatan beaches

[ABQrobin]

the bugs on Roatan that can be an issue are called Noseeums. They are tiny black dots that bite and may leave a mark. They are CYCLICAL...which means sometimes they are bad, sometimes non-existent. They tend to live in wet areas, like around piers and docks, chairs in the sand, hammocks. The product we have found that works the best, AND is not toxic to people or fish is called Cactus Juice. Google is your friend.

If you use DEET products, just be aware that it is toxic to the fish and reefs. Wash it off before getting in the water. Reapply whatever product you use, as soon as you get out of the water.

These bugs can be on ANY tropical island or mainland, its the JUNGLE and full of bugs, humidity, and creepy crawlies.

 

As I said..... some days there are zero noseeums.... sometimes they are hopping on your feet as you walk accross the sand. It all depends on how much rain in the past several weeks. Rainy season they tend to be worse but it can be any day of year.

[eileeshb]

the bugs on Roatan that can be an issue are called Noseeums. They are tiny black dots that bite and may leave a mark. They are CYCLICAL...which means sometimes they are bad, sometimes non-existent. They tend to live in wet areas, like around piers and docks, chairs in the sand, hammocks. The product we have found that works the best, AND is not toxic to people or fish is called Cactus Juice. Google is your friend.

If you use DEET products, just be aware that it is toxic to the fish and reefs. Wash it off before getting in the water. Reapply whatever product you use, as soon as you get out of the water.

These bugs can be on ANY tropical island or mainland, its the JUNGLE and full of bugs, humidity, and creepy crawlies.

 

As I said..... some days there are zero noseeums.... sometimes they are hopping on your feet as you walk accross the sand. It all depends on how much rain in the past several weeks. Rainy season they tend to be worse but it can be any day of year.

I'm liking this advice as I'm rather allergic to deet as I discovered when I tried using a repellent with it on a trip to Costa Rica. I prefer using repellents based on natural ingredients and have tended to use tea tree based ones in the past along with citrus based body products. Oddly the current after sun product I use has cactus juice as its active ingredient (the joy of being allergic to aloe vera leads to discovering odd product choices).

[Guest 2000]

Respectfully, I would like to resuscitate this thread if nobody minds...... ;)

 

So it's been a few years since the last post on here and I would really like to get some more current feedback from folks who have been to Roatan. We have booked a 7-day cruise on the Freedom out of Galveston on Feb 24th, 2018 - and one of the ports is Roatan. In doing my usual (WAY OCD) research about all of the ports we are going to visit (Cozumel, Belize and Roatan - only one we've been to before is Cozumel), I became somewhat alarmed at some of the stories of bugs in the Roatan area. I found this strange, because prior to our first cruise in 2012, the issue didn't really crop up at all and we never even worried about it.

 

Anyways - it seems in doing thorough research and reading plenty of forums on the topic that there is a common misconception between sand flies and sand FLEAS.

 

Sand FLIES seem to be pretty much your common-or-garden-biting-fly-that-isn't-a-mosquito. They don't worry me too much. We live in Arkansas and routinely have to dodge mosquitoes, gnats (which do bite), fire ants, chiggers, moths, stink bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas and katydids while going about our routine business. I will apply Off Deep Woods and not worry too much.

 

However - I need to know if sand FLEAS exist or are a problem on Roatan. I'm talking sand fleas, also knows as jiggers (not chiggers!), the chigoe flea, chigoe, nigua and - by its latin name - Tunga penetrans. This parasite (stop reading here if you have a sensitive stomach) is apparently found everywhere from Mexico south, but particularly in lesser-developed nations. It lives a few centimetres below the surface of the sand on beaches, and is the smallest flea in the world (basically invisible). These parasites attack humans and cause a terrible parasitic disease called tungiasis. The female flea enters the human host through the skin (usually of the foot), and embeds herself there. She proceeds over the course of a week to 10 days to grow, engorge, and reproduce inside the human host, resulting in a very painful and totally vomit-inducing condition whereby her massive body has to be surgically removed.....hopefully before her eggs start spilling out onto the skin's surface.

 

Yeah. I know. I'll stop there. Anyways..........common sense dictates to me that if insects of this genre were common around Roatan, that everybody who ever cruised there would be coming back with nightmare stories and it would NEVER have become a popular beach port. But........if there is anybody out there who knows differently - please share! Because if these things exist and attach themselves to humans on Roatan....I may not get off the ship.

 

Cheers.

 

 

The bugs people are talking about on Roatan have wings. Wiki has this to say about SandFlys:also known in Floridaand elsewhere as a sand gnat, sandflea, no-see-um (no-see-em, noseeum), granny nipper, chitra, punkie, or punky. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandfly

 

Wiki also has this to say about sand fleas.. Terrestrial species are often referred to as landhoppers and beach dwellers are called sandhoppers or sand fleas. The name sand flea is misleading, because these talitrid amphipods do not bite people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talitridae

 

Wiki has this to say about Tunga penetrans. Which does not have wings there fore is not the bug people talk so much about on Roatan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunga_penetrans

 

The sandflys can be vary bad for some people and others do not even notice them. The first year I went done I stayed 10 days, I came home looking like I had chicken poxs and itched for days after return. I was miserable. I take deep woods off with me now, I am religious about applying. I also take benadryl anti itch cream just in case I get bitten.

 

I have talked to people who never got bitten on the same beach at the same time as I have seen people with pus filled, itchy pockets on their bodies. Reaction to the bite is personal to chemistry.

[ABQrobin]

As I said before..... do a Google search for the company Cactus Juice. Their products are all natural and work on noseeums.

[BleednBlu]

As I said before..... do a Google search for the company Cactus Juice. Their products are all natural and work on noseeums.

 

 

The suntan lotion or something else they offer?

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ABQrobin]

The suntan lotion or something else they offer?

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

We always get the spray bottle which says it protects against critters. They used to say that it was a bug repellant, but had to remove that from the label for legal reasons, I think. The sunscreen is also nice, but it is a lotion.

We take the spray bottle with us on our trips, and after we rinse off ocean water, and dry off with towel, we immediately spray it all over, especially feet and lower legs. (They seem to jump onto you as you walk around.) It smells nice, too. Not chemical odor, but a light citrus scent.

 

Some people also swear by SkinsoSoft by Avon...but it is an oil base, and I don't think it is fish-friendly, plus it gets your clothes oily.

 

robin

[geeko1]

Typically the Breeze or lack of Breeze is going to be the variable on the bug Supply. 35% DEET is considered The Sweet Spot look at ultrathon by 3M because it has a slow-release feature

[Brad1972]

Interesting. We were there mid April 2016 and never had an issue being bit by anything. We were at Bananarama resort most all day. We had bug spray with us but we never put any on. We did use sunblock though. It wasn't sunblock with bug repellent either. maybe there's certain times of the year hey are bad? We'll be back there in April next year and we'll have bug spray again but hopefully we wont need it.

[geeko1]

Interesting. We were there mid April 2016 and never had an issue being bit by anything. We were at Bananarama resort most all day. We had bug spray with us but we never put any on. We did use sunblock though. It wasn't sunblock with bug repellent either. maybe there's certain times of the year hey are bad? We'll be back there in April next year and we'll have bug spray again but hopefully we wont need it.

 

Reread post 32

[aldofont]

It depends on the day, the weather, whether the sand has recently been treated, personal sensitivity and luck. It's the Caribbean, bugs are there, make sure you bring some bug spray and you will be ok (and chances are high you won't use it).