Bugs in FLA

[fookisan]

I'll be camping out a lot on my dive trip to FLA and would like to know if I need to bring a screen room tent to sit outside or cook in due to excessive bugs? I'll be going in mid June to early July. Someone told me the bugs in FLA are excessive this time of year. Is this true? I could also use a mesh head net and mesh jacket for bug protection.

Thanks,

Dan T

 

[Orlando Eric]

The answer is yes and no. If you stay at the standard camp sites a few well placed Tiki torches with citronella will keep the little blood suckers away enough for you to only lose a pint or so.

If you are opting for true primitive camping then a full hunters bug suit and 100% DEET is reccomended. I gave up the sport of hunting mid season and never went back due to the constant Buzzing.

Where and When is your adventure to take place? We are the conch and seek to assimilate others to our collective dive group.

 

[FL_Chad]

no worries - BUG season doesnt reopen until August

yes, I would definelty bring the net - especially if you are planning on staying for more than a night or 2. Also, the noseeums will carry you off if you are around mangroves anywhere camping. Often, they can get in your tent with it zipped up.

 

[Itote]

Bro, if ya got any anti aircraft artillery suited for mosquito's, ya better bring it. Thats if there half as bad as they are where I am.

 

[MikeJacobs]

... if you're a bug magnet like me - they'll make your life miserable long after you're back home. No-see-ums don't even START to itch for up to two days and last a week afterward. They're here NOW believe it or not (wanna see my ankles?).

If you want to know what a no-see-um bite is like, burn yourself with a red-hot pin head and then rub salt in the blister every TEN MINUTES FOR A WEEK.

I'm probably a lot more sensitive to them for some reason but I pretty much dip in deet before going to Weston during the summer.

Mosquitos are the least of your worries lol!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Mike I need to hang around you more! If you are the magnet, they will keep away from me.

 

[Maya]

Mike I need to hang around you more! If you are the magnet, they will keep away from me.

definitely bring the screens, and see if you can find mosquito coils to burn. I don't camp in July/August anymore, but the noseeums will be your biggest problem, depending on where you are. Mosquito coils help a little.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Florida'a a big state... I've seen skeeters so big and thick around Peacock they'll carry you off and argue amongst themselves who gets the dark meat. But...
If you're coming to the Lower Alabama part (anywhere West of the Chatahoochie) then (depending on how close to the nearest swamp you are) in addition to the skeeters & noseeums, the horseflies, deerflies and the (verdamnt) biting black flies can run even the most hardy soul stark ravin' mad and back to Vermont!
Recommended preventive measures include:
Eat lots of garlic.
Cotton, loose fitting long sleeve shirt (turtleneck preferred in the evening)
Cotton, loose fitting long trousers
Socks (athletic - not those wimpy "hosiery" thingies - the biteys here just laugh at those)
Did I mention garlic?
DEET - minimum 30%; 100% recommended (folks who use "Skin-So-Soft" find they have to use vast quantities - it won't repel 'em, you have to drown 'em)
Screen house for relaxing and cooking
Tent screens should be the finest mesh you can find, but keep the DEET on as there hasn't been the screen invented yet that's proof against noseeums.
Do not wear perfume, cologne or any other kind of smell-pretty. (or anything that smells like food or fish guts, either)
See if you can find some good old fashioned plain soap - like Octagon - to bathe with. Pretty smelling soaps smell pretty to critters, too. But then so do smelly bodies smell good to critters, so frequent washing is a good thing.
Eat lots of garlic.
Enjoy...
Rick
-------
By the way, "bugs" (hemiptera) aren't really a problem. Almost all the biteys down this way are diptera (fly family), and referred to as skeeters, noseeums, flies etc. In "deep South speak," the word "Bug" is usually reserved for bugs (stink bugs, assassin bugs, etc), blattidea and certain crustaceans.

 

[reefsavers.org]

Imagine having so many mosquitos on your face that it looks like you're wearing a ski mask. Now if you go to the keys you'll get bit! theres bugs everywhere and always so bring lots of skeeter spray and like somebody said eat lots of garlic, that does help.
Oh be sure that before they drive you crazy and you shoot yourself in the head get a room because summer is not only hot like hell the skeeters and no-see-ums will drive you emotionally insane. Ive seen lots of folks come to florida and think theyre gonna camp out and wind up having a terrible time. A nice air conditioned room after a long day of diving is a wonderful thing. Waking up without giving a overnight blood donation aint bad either.

 

[KidK9]

Shoot, I thought this thread was about Lobsters. Darn it!