The wife and I are going to the BVI in 2 weeks.....any suggestions on a truly effective insect repellant? What keeps no see ums away?

Any product that has a high percentage of Deet in it. That's the only thing that works for me in STJ.

Consumer Reports just did a piece on insect repellant in this month's edition. They rated 3M's Ultrathon (lotion) the highest and Deep Woods Off (spray) second. Suprisingly, Ultrathon is only 33% Deet, while Deep Woods Off is 100% Deet. Avon's Skin So Soft was the lowest rated of all of the repellants that they tested. They applied the repellant to the tester's arms and then put their arms in a cage full of mosquitos and counted the number that landed. (I sure wouldn't want that job!)<BR><BR>We're going to St. John in May and are planning to bring an ample supply of Ultrathon with us! Also, I have read on the USVI board that taking 300mg of Vitamin B1/Thiamine per day for several days prior to arrival and while you are in the islands helps with the no-seeums. Not sure how legit that might be, but it can't hurt to try! <BR><BR>Have a great trip!

Mosquito Milk gives you 8 hours protection from mosquitoes &amp; sand fleas. It SAVED our vacation in St. Barts -- it's only available in the islands.

When we went to Tahiti a few years ago, Avon's Skin-So-Soft kept the no-seeums away. They apparently don't like the oily feeling on your skin.

We used Ultrathon recently on our trip to the Amazon, and although it did work quite well, I found it to be very greasy. This is what our travel medicine doctor recommended, telling us that Ultrathon is what the U.S. gov't provides the military in areas where malaria is prevalent. Supposedly, the Ultrathon works better because the active ingredient allows the DEET to degrade slower, thereby reducing the number of applications you need per 24 hour period. <BR><BR>However, due to the consistency of the stuff, I don't think I will use it for protection in non-malarial areas with fewer mosquitoes. Otherwise, I really like the Deep Woods Off spray that someone also mentioned. It's worked well for us in the past and it's got a very light feel to it. We took the 28% DEET Deep Woods Off (green bottle w/ a pump spray) to Thailand with us a couple years ago and felt it gave great protection (except in the spots we missed!) with a 2 to 3 times daily application.

Thanks for the suggestions. How big of a problem are insects during the day in the BVI?

Going to Aruba end of May; anyone know about mosquitoes there?

You shouldn't have problems with mosquitos in Aruba. The climate is very dry there and is not conducive to creating the pools of stagnant water that mosquitos breed in. Also, the contstant breezes keep the bugs away.

The new Celine Dion fragrance will repel anything