Caye Caulker is a beautiful little island with one annoying little pest that comes out when the breeze stops. Everyone be aware of this little pesky creature. Find a hotel that offers fully screened windows or air conditioning. Costa Maya Beach Cabanas offers this and I can honestly say, that I have personally stayed in every room and can say that I have never been bitten by a sandfly while sleeping. Sandflys are more common during and after rainy season. Here is some facts about these little pests, which I think are worse than mosquitos.
Sandfly is a colloquial name for any species or genus of flying, biting, blood-sucking Dipteran encountered in sandy areas. You may have heard of them already (no-see-em, noseeum). Sandfly bites may leave a small red bump or leave a large, red itchy bump(s) that may turn into a rash. These bumps are frequently several times as itchy as mosquito bites, and tend to last longer as well. In the various sorts of sandfly only the female is responsible for biting and sucking the blood of mammals, reptiles and birds. She requires the protein in the blood to make her eggs. Belize and Honduras are notorious in the Caribbean for their sandfly populations and travel pages frequently warn tourists to bring bug spray containing high concentrations of DEET. There is lots of local remedies to protect you against the sand flies bites. We sell at Tsunami Adventures. Itch-A-Way www.BelizeHemp.com It works fantastic. It stops the itch and burn and promotes rapid healing. Another local product is BJ’s Skin Solution. There is also a few others out there, a mixture of essential oils and coconut oils work well. Also most effective is the mosquito coils. They are black coils that are made in Asia. Not recommended to sleep while these things are burning, but good to leave around the area where sandflies are and the smell drives them away. Another thing you may encounter is the vap mat. It plugs in and has a little warming pad that you put a vap mat in it and it emits a smell that the sandflies don’t like. You can buy this machine at the local chinese store as well as the mosquito coils.
 mosquito coil |
 sand fly versus mosquito |
Mosquitos and Sand flies are not around all the time. Dusk and Dawn. More to the back of the island and by mangroves. The more humans keeping things clean the less bugs. The island sprays regularly to keep the bugs at bay. The truck does a cycle of 3 times. You may be see it pass by. During dry season it is the best time to visit. No rain no bugs. I have lived here for over 10 years and it has gotten way better and the bugs are not as bad as they used to be.
If they where so bad, we wouldn’t all live here and nobody would come visit. So don’t let them chase you or detour you from coming. It hasn’t stop anyone else yet.
