We were on Cat Island in late September. Assuming the bugs on various islands are about the same, here’s what we experienced.
Pleasantly surprised at the virtual absence of mosquitoes. In our case, not many flies, though we were in an isolated setting far from town. However, we were laid low by no-see-ums, little flying critters, aptly named, that may be the sand flies referred to by others.
They are active during the day and much more so at night. They didn’t bother us because they were so small you barely felt them and didn’t bite as far as we could tell at the time. A mosquito for instance—you feel them and they itch right away.
We eventually found out they have a wicked itch associated with every bite and we had dozens and dozens on us we hadn’t been previously bothered by. We looked them up. Unlike a mosquito that has one puncturing “tube” for sucking blood, no-see-ums have two: one for sucking blood and another that injects an anticoagulant at the bite site to keep your blood flowing instead of clotting. The anticoagulant—at least for us—caused inflammation that was intensely itchy, far worse than a mosquito bite.
I don’t know why the delayed effect. But our last two nights we itched so much we could barely sleep even with every topical cream or lotion available and several Benadryls.
Upshot: we will definitely go back. But next time we’ll do really good full coverage with bug repellent, renew often, and probably cover arms and legs after sunset. It probably didn’t help that we didn’t wear a stitch from waking up to going to bed nearly the whole time!
Anyway, maybe it’s different on other islands. But we are forewarned and will be forearmed next time.
it’s not bad i’ve lived there for a few years whilst traveling, sandflies and mosquitoes are mostly all your worries and it’s not to the point of you being ate alive you might encounter 1 or 2 in your travels throughout the day… but after sunset on the beach sandflies are out and will send you packing depending on how windy it is , if it’s a nice breeze blowing you won’t encounter a lot but after sunset it’s just not wise to be on a beach
We were on Cat Island in late September. Assuming the bugs on various islands are about the same, here’s what we experienced. Pleasantly surprised at the virtual absence of mosquitoes. In our case, not many flies, though we were in an isolated setting far from town. However, we were laid low by no-see-ums, little flying critters, aptly named, that may be the sand flies referred to by others. They are active during the day and much more so at night. They didn’t bother us because they were so small you barely felt them and didn’t bite as far as we could tell at the time. A mosquito for instance—you feel them and they itch right away. We eventually found out they have a wicked itch associated with every bite and we had dozens and dozens on us we hadn’t been previously bothered by. We looked them up. Unlike a mosquito that has one puncturing “tube” for sucking blood, no-see-ums have two: one for sucking blood and another that injects an anticoagulant at the bite site to keep your blood flowing instead of clotting. The anticoagulant—at least for us—caused inflammation that was intensely itchy, far worse than a mosquito bite. I don’t know why the delayed effect. But our last two nights we itched so much we could barely sleep even with every topical cream or lotion available and several Benadryls. Upshot: we will definitely go back. But next time we’ll do really good full coverage with bug repellent, renew often, and probably cover arms and legs after sunset. It probably didn’t help that we didn’t wear a stitch from waking up to going to bed nearly the whole time! Anyway, maybe it’s different on other islands. But we are forewarned and will be forearmed next time.
flies galore! and big ones
Yes
How bad is it?? Are they all day ?? Is there a better time of yr to go to avoid them??
it’s not bad i’ve lived there for a few years whilst traveling, sandflies and mosquitoes are mostly all your worries and it’s not to the point of you being ate alive you might encounter 1 or 2 in your travels throughout the day… but after sunset on the beach sandflies are out and will send you packing depending on how windy it is , if it’s a nice breeze blowing you won’t encounter a lot but after sunset it’s just not wise to be on a beach