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how bad are the mosquitos?


wsckky
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Hi, we will be taking the excursion from Celebrity Equinox next week and was wondering about the mosquitos situation.

 

I am a mosquito magnet clear.png?emoji-embarrass-1727and read some posts about CDC warning on travels to Mexico and needing shots for malaria, etc. Our 7 day cruise will be stopping in Key West, Costa Maya (Mayan excursion), Cozumel (Chichem Itza excursion), Grand Cayman (possible excursion to Barker's National Park), then back to Miami. How bad are the mosquitos in those areas and what kind of preparation is necessary? I will bring bug repellent (Sawyer 20% PIcaridin) but wasn't sure if I should also plan to wear long sleeves and long pants. We will mostly see the sites and city tours instead of beaches or water sports. Thanks so much for your help!

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If you are in a wooded, jungle-like area, use your bug spray. It would be too warm (for me) in long sleeves and long pants...

Mosquitos are most active at dusk and dawn...not so much in the middle of the day. I would use the spray, and not worry to much about it.

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On Grand Cayman the areas that you list should be fine with one exception. The Seven Mile Beach corridor is regularly treated and thus I find very few mosquitoes (mostly sand fleas instead, which are out at dawn and dusk) - you mentioned Barkers - and that would be the exception - it's mostly a mangrove swamp, so you may well get them there.

 

Also, the old advice about only out at dawn and dusk doesn't really apply any more - the type of mozzy that carries Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya are the adeis aegypti, which are active during the day, too, in any weather. That having been said, there have been no instances of these diseases on Grand Cayman in quite a while, so the risk of catching any of them are small. But each person needs to understand the facts and their own level of risk tolerance - there are no unequivocal answers.

 

If you are concerned, and can handle the heat, then I would consider wearing long pants or sleeves while at Barkers, but you definitely won't need it for the other places on your list, and it may be overkill for Barkers, too.

 

I can't speak for the other ports of call you are going to - only for Grand Cayman.

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Me and my husband visited the Cayman Crystal Caves in October 2017. The caves are surrounded by a "jungle-like" atmosphere, and the mosquitoes were BAD, both in the dark caves and throughout the jungle. They excursion even provided a lemon grass based repellent, which did help. I would imagine any sort of "woodsy" type locations are going to have quite a few mosquitoes, so plan accordingly.

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