Zika Report

My wife are planning a 10 day visit to SXM in early April or May '17. Any idea what the actual Zika situation is there currently. It's been three years since our last visit. We will be in a private ocean front villa in Baie Rouge. Mosquitoes bit me like crazy all day long during our last vacation. We purchased everything under the sun but nothing seemed to stop them unless we were neck deep in the pool.

Why no replies?

ZIKA warnings are posted all over the island. You will hear warning on airport loudspeakers in immigration area as you arrive. I spoke with several locals during our Christmas week stay, they didn't express their concern. Critical time for agresive mosquitoes is between 6-7 PM. Use strong repellent if you are outside at that time. It was raining daily while we were there, but we didn't experience any budgs this year.

I suspect people are otherwise entertained this evening. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Mosquitoes are totally a function of how much rain there has been, whether it is windy, what kind of vegetation there is, etc. Plus, whether you personally are a mosquito magnet. I don't really understand the physics of that, but I know if there is a mosquito in 5 miles, it will bite me, and there could be hordes of mosquitoes and they will ignore Eric. Regardless, zika is not really a big deal for anyone that is not of child bearing age. Protect yourself as you can with repellent with Deet. That's about all you can do.

Pretty straight forward. Yes, Zika is an issue of concern if you're planning children in the short term. We're past that a bit, but would not consider an sxm trip or anywhere else Caribbean otherwise if we were.

Zika is present on St Maarten as well as on every other Caribbean island and country in Central and South America. That said, there have been many babies born on St Maarten this year that show no signs of any Zika related issues or concerns. You might want to check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at https://www.cdc.gov/zika/ to learn more.