CruisingMisc stuff

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs….What are you going to do?

By January 22, 2023 No Comments

We started the cruising season in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. While we really liked cruising the river and the community that is there, we were not impressed with the may flies!!!!

These bugs are amazing!!!! They do not bite at all, but come out in droves at sunset (6pm ish) and flock to light source or anything that reflects light (like a white fiberglass boat) and then they…….die! That is it. If you can keep them away for two hours you are fine because they die where they are by 8pm.

It is amazing to walk out and see the cockpit (and rest of the boat), you just cleaned the day before, covered in dead flying carcasses.

Once we left the river we did not have anymore issues with them, but we had another bug issue one night a couple days later. This time we were in the Sapodilla Cays, Belize and I was cleaning up from cooking dinner for my guests. All of a sudden a big dragonfly flew into the salon and started bumping into everything. I shooed it away and then another flew in. This one would not leave so I had to catch it in a cup and take it outside. Just as I released it another flew in. By this time we decided to put up the bug screen.

It turns out that we had over two dozen dragonflies in the cockpit that night, just hanging (or in some cases laying on their back as if dead). At dawn they shook their wings and fluttered off one by one…..even the “dead ones” on their back. The last five were actually stuck between the sliding door and a bulkhead and I had to fish them out with a wooden spoon and some maneuvering of the door.

Again they did not attack or bit and simply went away in the morning…..except for the poop. Did you know dragonflies make solid little poops? I did not. What a mess!!!!!

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