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Have any of you heard about cactus juice? I just read about it in a sailing magazine. It is an all natural product (from the prickley pear cactus) that supposedly acts as a sun block plus a deterrent to blood sucking critters. Please tell me it works great....other wise I got snookered.

hmmmm, as long as the take all the needles out of it...

actually, never heard of it (i live in the desert), but will look around.

Down here in Texas they make jelly out of prickley pear from a cactus. Never heard of any medicinal purposes. The Indians ate them all the time....... Can be very sweet if left to ripen. I would think the sugar would "attact" bugs...... ?????/

On Roatan Island, Honduras everyone recommended the Cactus Juice and we purchased a bottle. It did not work!!!! And not even 100% Deet kept these things away from us. But we did not encounter any No-see-ums on Ambergris Caye or Half Moon Caye last September.

Are there No-see-ums/Sandflies in the Basil Jones Area?

Yes.

Are there any in the Cayo area?

A woman working at Lamanai told me the ancient Mayan secret: Baby Oil.
I never encountered any while I was in Belize last May so I don't know if it works, but considering the source of my info, that's what I'd try first.

Thanks, MamaLiz....I have heard about that but just assumed since it was the easiest and the cheapest, that it wouldn't work!...lol

The Ancient Mayans had Baby Oil? I did not know this.
On our last day in the Virgin Islands someone told us to use Rum for insect repellent. Anyone ever try this? We didn't get to test it but if it works it would be cheap and readily available!