Mosquito free anchorage/island?

[2Hulls]

Exactly which part of California is in the Atlantic & the Caribbean?

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

How bad is the Caribbean?

Depends. Some days, some places, it can be horrible. A different day, with the wind from a different direction, same place can be fine. But there isn't anywhere that I'm aware of in the Caribbean, nor along the East coast of the U.S., that could be called "mosquito free." At least, not unless you go far enough North, late enough in the year, that the mosquitoes have all frozen to death!

[mstrebe]

Originally Posted by zeehag

THERE IS NO FREE ANCHORAGE INSIDE SAN DIEGO BAY. the ONE that USED TO be free was closed.

That's why I said "The free anchorage outside coronado island."

As for mosquitos, I've lived in San Diego and been in most of the marinas here for going on 30 years. I've been bit by a mosquito less than a dozen times total. There's no reason to take any mosquito prevention measures at all here. I live right on the coast next to San Elijo Lagoon, and we don't even bother with screens. I've never been bit on the boat.

[zeehag]

if ye dislke chessy skeeters, ye wont be happy in maine, cali, ny, teejass, louisiana, much of any usa/temperate zone cruising locale,,,fla, la, miss, ala-- gom coast is overcome with em, they outnumber folks a few million to one.
and the count rises logarithmically in tropics. skeeter netting works. so do window/port screens.
or cruise very cold latitudes.
i choose screens in tropics and i am happy.
oh yeah and a tennis racket style bug zapper.

[mstrebe]

Originally Posted by 2Hulls

Exactly which part of California is in the Atlantic & the Caribbean?

Did the OP mention a location and I missed it?

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by mstrebe

Did the OP mention a location and I missed it?

It was posted in the "Atlantic & the Caribbean" category of "Destinations". That's still a big area, but it doesn't usually include California.....

[mstrebe]

Originally Posted by 2Hulls

It was posted in the "Atlantic & the Caribbean" category of "Destinations". That's still a big area, but it doesn't usually include California.....

Ah. Such complex, this forum.

[tbodine88]

I just got back from Hawaii, no skeeters encountered, but I heard a rumor of mosquitoes in Maui.
Don't recall any in Guam either.
But everywhere I went in the Caribbean, there were some.

[Yukon Cornelius]

Ironically, I never saw a single mosquito the night I was anchored off Mosquito Island in the BVI (perhaps the 25knt. tradewinds helped). I assume its namesake comes from the tribe, not the bug?

[jeanathon]

I should have put the Caribbean in the title. Forgot to after posting in the Caribbean section.
Personally I don't have a problem with the little monsters as long as I am sitting next to my girlfriend. Hence the question.

[barnakiel]

Let me guess Alaska in the winter.

b.

[poiu]

Originally Posted by jeanathon

I should have put the Caribbean in the title. Forgot to after posting in the Caribbean section.
Personally I don't have a problem with the little monsters as long as I am sitting next to my girlfriend. Hence the question.

Any island can be fine. They don't trouble me much, just on shore, where I use mossie spray with less than 100% effectiveness. On the boat it's not needed. My solution is to anchor out as far as i can and avoid mangroves. They rarely get in my boat and almost never in my cabin. Those that do pay the ultimate price for their error. They are tracked down, there is no mercy. I always fit mossie screens to the port lights and the door is mossie proof and is never left open. A sort of mossie sterile zone.

[barnakiel]

Ouch.

Caribbean?

OK, some raw rules, possibly not too scientifically proven though:

- NOT in mangroves creek, nor in a mangroves bay,
- NOT close to fresh/brackish pools upwind of,

- anchor where there is plenty of wind,
- anchor as far offshore as you can.

Read on chikungunya. You get bitten once and partial recovery takes more than a month. Many weaker and older people never recover fully.

Cheers,
b.

[JPA Cate]

Barnakiel's right: mosquitoes are vectors for lots of nasty bugs: chickungunya, malaria, Ross River fever, Dengue, and hemorrhagic dengue.....yellow fever. etc.

However, physical prophylaxis works. That's a combination of screens, bug juice when necessary, and protective clothing.

For the boat, how we addressed the situation in the Solomon Is, with their high frequency of malaria, was the following:

We bought a double bed sized mosquito net (large enough to enclose our cockpit at the time--you will need more if you've a large cockpit; the boat at the time was a 36 ft. mono.) The bed net was soaked in a permethriin plus water solution, to saturate it. After it was dry, I sewed it to our cockpit awning in such a way as to overlap the dodger, and put old heavy line in the hem to weight it down so as to seal off the cockpit. It was fun to sit there in the enclosure and watch the flies land on it and fall off, dead.

After wringing out the net into a bucket, I then soaked an ankle length skirt and lightweight long sleeved blouse in the remains. I only wore them when going into the village after about 4 in the afternoon. Didn't wash them the whole time. Washed me a lot!

We also had screens for our hatches, dorade, and even the companionway hatch.

I am a mosquito magnet. Jim refers to me as his sacrificial Annode. :-( However, I was not bitten the whole time we were there.

So, with a little creativity, if you take not getting bitten seriously, preventing getting bitten really is doable. It will take some planning and diligence.

Finally, if there are biting sandflies, the permethrins will still work on the net, but I would use cockroach surface spray on the outside of the port screens and hatches. They don't want to fly in past it. I do not know why, but it's worked for us.

Ann

[Seymore]

You can look forward to anchoring around Savannah GA USA. They have 3 helicopters and they spray for mosquitoes, so there are none.

There are a few no-see-ums.