A Gnaty Problem

[jzk]

I lived in Ft. Lauderdale for 4 years and kept my boat in the 15th street canal. I never saw one bug in all the time I was there. Not one. In Jupiter, the no-see-'ems come out at sundown if you are near mangroves, but other than that I have found coastal South Florida relatively bug free. Except, of course, for the 4 inch flying roaches

[Dave the Canuck]

Originally Posted by jzk

Just wait until that thing has its 10,000 babies!

That will be an "Alien" moment.

Well, vacation starts today. If you're along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay over the next couple of weeks and see "Points North", come on over and say hi.

I'm outta here. Have a great couple of weeks!

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by jzk

I lived in Ft. Lauderdale for 4 years and kept my boat in the 15th street canal. I never saw one bug in all the time I was there. Not one. In Jupiter, the no-see-'ems come out at sundown if you are near mangroves, but other than that I have found coastal South Florida relatively bug free. Except, of course, for the 4 inch flying roaches

Yeah!

I lived in Manhattan and Boston before. I had seen roaches - by the hundreds.

HOWEVER - No roach I have ever seen was as scary as the one that hitched a ride back from Publix with me in my groceries from the Rickenbaker Causeway in SoBe.

GOOD LORD, the thing was 3-4" and that's no exaggeration.

I was using my computer in the dark, anchored by the causeway, when I heard some weird tropical animal scurry above my head, across my deck.
"Weird animals", I thought. I sounded something like a chimpmunk or squirrel scurrying along.

Then it scurried the other way across the deck, but I FELT it go across my arm!!

I immediately turned on the light and spent half an hour hunting that thing down. I did *not* want that thing living in the boat.

In the end, I cornered him and killed him with poison I had on board. (He was to quick to squash)

Scary SCARY roaches down there!

[imagine2frolic]

Little mixture of peanut butter, and boric acid in ziplocks will kill what you can't chase down.

[Steve Rust]

I have been to Huron many times but have never seen this. Maybe the fact that I usually do this in late July thru August has something to do with it. Now the mosquitoes are another matter but at least they only come out at dusk. The few times we have been in the Bustard Islands in Georgian Bay we did not have mosquitoes in the evening and were able to drift about in the kayak looking at the night sky. I have heard that these islands have a reputation of being free of them. The Black flies can be a problem in the Apostle Islands for a short time if you happen to be there during the hatch but we have never had a big problem with any bugs further north along the Canadian Shore of Superior.

[scallywag]

Have you tried using Avon's Skin So Soft? It has to be the original. There is a new and improved. Avon carries both. The down side is SSS is slippery.
John

[bix85]

Dave,

I'd love to see Georgian Bay sometime. I spent several great weeks camping/canoeing in the Ranger Lakes area as a teen and I miss everything but the bugs - they were bearable, but memorable as well. I've seen the Northern Lights from a canoe, but never from a sailboat.

Ron

[psteele235]

Originally Posted by jzk

Because of these swarms, every dock and boat in Chicago gets covered by a full compliment of spiders that grow into the size of small rodents throughout the season.

My pet tarantula keeps all of the bugs and spiders away. Even keeps me company when I open a beer or two. Funny, doesn't seem that the Admiral feels the same way as me about it - keeps her away too!

[Mahana]

I can’t tell from your description if these gnats are actually biting you or, by “attack” you mean simply landing all over you and your boat. It makes a difference in how you might go about reducing their numbers. If these are biting midges (one kind of gnat) coming for a meal, you can repel them much as you would a mosquito by burning mosquito coils (or simply puffing a cigar and blowing the smoke around you). These are females seeking a blood meal from you and there are CO2 traps that are also used to attract them (though probably not something you’d want to lug on board your boat).

I’m guessing you have male mating swarms. Their swarming activity is frequently influenced by the lunar cycle, so careful observation of when they swarm might help you time your trip to avoid the highest numbers. You might also watch to see how localized the swarms are and try to move away from them.

If they follow you, they are probably looking for a place to land- poor fools. As dew falls, these minute flies get caught in the surface moisture and die. It may be worth putting away awnings and covering furled sails to reduce surface area. Cleaning off the remaining corpses is easier if the job is undertaken before the morning sun bakes the bodies on to the deck.

Again, smoke helps somewhat to dissipate the males (after all they are trying to smell nearby females, not cigar smoke). In a cabin, kerosene lanterns also have some effect. Even an electric fan will make for some improvement.

However, if these methods fail (and they never completely remove the problem), try entertaining yourself and your new friends. The male swarms very often respond to vibration in sudden coordinated flight. Try clapping. See how they jump in unison? Now try “humpty dumpty sat on a wall”. If you get a good rhythmic dance from the swarm, then go on to rap and jam with your tiny flies! You’ll have so much fun that the mess the next day won’t matter.