Are Sand Fleas Still an Issue?

[JohnnyC]

The ones with DEET in them.

THIS!!!! The highest DEET content you can find. Usually Deep Woods OFF! is the most readily available, it's around 25%

 

[LarryNJ]

R

Aren't you going to Utila? Lots of Sand Flies there around the mangrove lagoon - especially at dusk.

Yes we are going to Utila.

Do we need to spray only our feet and legs? Or will they bite your arms, and face too? Also if you do get bit, what's the best treatment?

 

[Doc]

THIS!!!! The highest DEET content you can find. Usually Deep Woods OFF! is the most readily available, it's around 25%

Well, not really.

You have to understand what the Percentage of DEET has to do with the effect. High percentage DEET? It actually has very little use for a visitor who is a frequent SCUBA diver.

The percentage of DEET is a function of the effectiveness remaining after a period of normal bodily perspiration. How much will get washed off by your sweat?

For most of us who came on a Dive Vacation the timed application of a low percentage of DEET, that will do just fine as a protectant during the interval between diving. The 90% DEET spays? They are better suited for those performing heavy labor in jungle environments (usually wearing olive drab clothing). That's why the USGI carries 99% DEET in a cream form.

The lower percentage of DEET sprays are quite a bit cheaper. Can you say, "marketing"?

Higher percentages of DEET when applied merely stay on the body for longer periods of time. Irrelevant when you are diving throughout the day.

Although there is absolutely ZERO scientific evidence that DEET can damage the reef, please think to shower off before you get ion the dive boat. Why not? Upon your return to shore, "dose-up" again, we always keep a spray can in our dive locker (if not in our ditty bag that we left in-board the dive boat), before the little buggers sniff you coming ashore all salty and yummy.

We keep another can right at the door of the room. A great reminder when you're going out the door.

Sand Fleas (No See Ums, Sand Flies, etc) are most active post-Sunrise and pre-Sunset, they love the environment of wet vegetable matter- this can be sea-weed on the sand, cotton lines on a boat, or Wolmanized 2x4's. If it is decaying vegetable matter, they're in.

And yes- beware contact with anything plastic. It isn't the DEET, it's the inert base carrier ingredient, but the effect is the same. I have seen plastic Bubba mugs get all slimy, I have seen SWATCH watches dissolve, and the worst? The dome port of a housed camera, with a fingerprint melted into it.

---------- Post added March 13th, 2015 at 07:14 AM ----------

R

Yes we are going to Utila.

Do we need to spray only our feet and legs? Or will they bite your arms, and face too? Also if you do get bit, what's the best treatment?

I do legs, feet, neck, head, arms. They seem to give up at the clothing line. They're not crawlers, they'd fliers.

The single best after-bite treatment? Get yourself a scrip for a $3 tube of Fluconide, it is a strong corticosteroid cream, the same active ingredient as is found in Nasonex. One dab with a q-tip (of either) and the insane itch disappears instantly.

 

[LarryNJ]

Great info! Thanks Doc!

 

[diversteve]

IDK how it compares to Doc's recommendation but I used: Cortizone 10 Hydrocortisone Anti-Itch Creme, Maximum Strength | drugstore.com

 

[LarryNJ]

I use and recommend a product called BuggSpray available online.

I ordered 2 bottles today. They are small 4oz each. Do you think 2 will be enough for 2 people 11 days?

 

[Doc]

Not if you're mixing it with Flor de Cana.

 

[LiquidDivingAdventure]

LarryNJ... I use BuggSpray on Utila for no-see-ums and one bottle will just about get me through a 7 day trip given I'm in the water quite a bit. I use it early AM and late afternoon, not all day long.

---------- Post added April 1st, 2015 at 01:47 PM ----------

The other option and my wife did this last trip to Utila. We met the new lady doc on Utila, she came to the resort and gave my wife a vitamin B shot ($30 for the house call) and it really worked.

 

[JohnnyC]

Well, yes really. It's proven that higher concentrations of DEET are effective for longer than lower concentrations. You are correct that the higher the concentration of DEET is a function of how long is lasts, and not effectiveness. I guess I was incorrect in assuming that a vacation diver would be using an insect repellent for their time spent on land, which when concerning most vacationing scuba divers, is typically 18 hours or more of each day, hardly irrelevant. Rare are the divers doing 5-6 tank dives a day. Even so, I doubt most vacationing divers are applying insect repellent solely for their surface interval? I would think they are looking for protection other than when diving, in which case a longer lasting application would be beneficial no? When I'm tooling around town I'm not carrying a backpack full of goodies if I can help it, a can of insect repellent being one of them.

Either way, it seems that the New England Journal of Medicine finds the effectiveness over time of insect repellents is directly proportional to their DEET content. I'd (speaking personally here) rather apply less and enjoy my vacation, at least the time spent out of the water. As long as you understand that you're not buying more effective repellent, simply longer lasting I don't seem why you would choose otherwise. It's not a marketing gimmick. At most it seems to be $2-3 a can premium (Walmart) of a higher (25%) DEET concentration that lasts 4-5 hours, a $5 premium that lasts 10 hours, vs a $4 bottle that lasts 2-3 at most. Hardly wallet busting when you're already going on a dive vacation, not known for being inexpensive endeavors. It seems to come down to whether you want to apply once and go and spend $3 more of the luxury, or save the $3 and carry a bottle of bug juice around with you.

Comparative Efficacy of Insect Repellents against Mosquito Bites

ETA: Link weirdness fixed

Well, not really.

You have to understand what the Percentage of DEET has to do with the effect. High percentage DEET? It actually has very little use for a visitor who is a frequent SCUBA diver.

The percentage of DEET is a function of the effectiveness remaining after a period of normal bodily perspiration. How much will get washed off by your sweat?

For most of us who came on a Dive Vacation the timed application of a low percentage of DEET, that will do just fine as a protectant during the interval between diving. The 90% DEET spays? They are better suited for those performing heavy labor in jungle environments (usually wearing olive drab clothing). That's why the USGI carries 99% DEET in a cream form.

The lower percentage of DEET sprays are quite a bit cheaper. Can you say, "marketing"?

Higher percentages of DEET when applied merely stay on the body for longer periods of time. Irrelevant when you are diving throughout the day.

Although there is absolutely ZERO scientific evidence that DEET can damage the reef, please think to shower off before you get ion the dive boat. Why not? Upon your return to shore, "dose-up" again, we always keep a spray can in our dive locker (if not in our ditty bag that we left in-board the dive boat), before the little buggers sniff you coming ashore all salty and yummy.

We keep another can right at the door of the room. A great reminder when you're going out the door.

Sand Fleas (No See Ums, Sand Flies, etc) are most active post-Sunrise and pre-Sunset, they love the environment of wet vegetable matter- this can be sea-weed on the sand, cotton lines on a boat, or Wolmanized 2x4's. If it is decaying vegetable matter, they're in.

And yes- beware contact with anything plastic. It isn't the DEET, it's the inert base carrier ingredient, but the effect is the same. I have seen plastic Bubba mugs get all slimy, I have seen SWATCH watches dissolve, and the worst? The dome port of a housed camera, with a fingerprint melted into it.

---------- Post added March 13th, 2015 at 07:14 AM ----------



I do legs, feet, neck, head, arms. They seem to give up at the clothing line. They're not crawlers, they'd fliers.

The single best after-bite treatment? Get yourself a scrip for a $3 tube of Fluconide, it is a strong corticosteroid cream, the same active ingredient as is found in Nasonex. One dab with a q-tip (of either) and the insane itch disappears instantly.

 

[capper]

The times I have been in West Bay and West end, in August 2013 and August 2014, the sand flies were horrendously bad. I covered myself with bug spray , 10% DEET , but even if there was a tiny little spot i sweated off on my shoulder, back or arms, i would be bit like crazy. I should have brought a good antihistamine dobber before i went down....I was covered head to toe...there is no "sitting relaxing on the beach" let me tell you. Not for me anyways. My nephew who was with me, hardly DEET'd at all, and he had 2 meezly bites.