Andrew's trip report prompted me to issue a warning to all winter visitors to Bonaire. My son and I visited Bonaire last August and the mosquitos were "no shows." The previous February the attacks against me were ruthless and relentless while my wife left the island with nare a nick. WARNING: A massive squadron of the bloodsuckers is stationed at Flamingo Airport. Their assignment is to fly repeated sorties against unsuspecting victims while they pick up their rental car/truck. Have 100% Deet ready to apply upon deboarding. If your resort has a mosquito net--use it. I figured this out while in the hospital emergency room receiving a blood transfusion to replace the blood lost the previous night to the vampire insects. And this because I thought the net served to enhance the romantic feel of the bedroom. WARNING: Don't ask the natives about the mosquitos since they are immune to the bites. I concluded they have a treaty with the buzzing specks that reads like this: "We won't bother you if you won't bother us!" And by the way--if you think Andrew, who left with several hundred bites, satisfied the island mosquitos appetite for blood--you're wrong. It only expanded their capacity! I say--all readers of BT must unite--regardless of what others do--we will drench ourselves with Deet. And while others itch and scratch and itch and scratch--we'll secretly smile, glad they're feeding the mosquitos and not us.

If you want to be sure, bring a mosquito net yourself. It doesn't weight anything and takes hardly no space in your suitcase.....

Hee Hee Bill !!!

That was pretty funny....I needed a good laugh as I scratch and itch...itch and scratch !

:-)
Annette

Hello new people Welcome to BT talkers. loved the fabulous discription of the bombers in Bonaire
Even if they were the size of moose the underwater scene makes it all worth it ---- Just think tomorrow night I will be spraying the deet when we arrive at 8:45 pm TOMORROW DID I MENTION ??? WE ARRIVE IN BONAIRE TOMORROW. !!!!

Very funny...we went to Alaska last year and they had postcards with photos of a mosquito with the caption of "Alaska State Bird"!

I do have one question..I read on another thread that someone came home with Dungee Fevor from a Bonaire mosquito...is this a rare thing? Have there been other cases? We will bring our Deet but am concerned about my kids. Thanks

Do you mean Dengue fever?

Great report!
Much the same as you and your wife, I was eaten alive while my wife hardly got bitten at all during our stay in the first week of January. One evening, I decided to count my bites. Once I had counted 33 bites on one side of one ankle though, I decided that I didn’t really want to know.
I always take Claritin anytime I am going to be diving because of assorted allergies that keep my head stopped up pretty much year round. So that helped to also stop all the itching. Otherwise I would have been miserable the whole time.
After I realized just how badly I was being eaten alive, I too started using bug repellent. That helped a lot but they still got me.
For our next trip, I think I’ll bring along some 100% DEET and will most certainly use Claritin.

From the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) website (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/insect_repellent.htm):

"Q. Which mosquito repellent works the best?
A. The most effective repellents contain DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide), which is an ingredient used to repel pests like mosquitoes and ticks. DEET has been tested against a variety of biting insects and has been shown to be very effective. The more DEET a repellent contains the longer time it can protect you from mosquito bites. A higher percentage of DEET in a repellent does not mean that your protection is better—just that it will last longer. DEET concentrations higher than 50% do not increase the length of protection."

"Q. Are non-DEET repellents effective (e.g. Skin-So-Soft, plant-based repellents)?
A. Some non-DEET repellent products which are intended to be applied directly to skin also provide some protection from mosquito bites. However, studies have suggested that other products do not offer the same level of protection, or that protection does not last as long as products containing DEET."

I'd always thought that around 33% was the maximum effective dose for DEET, so this recommended increase to 50% is news to me. However, we've been okay at 25-33%, so we're not about to throw away what we own.

David