The Best Ways to Avoid Bugs when at the Beach

When the temperature starts to rise, and the humidity starts making working outside against most State health laws, heading to the beach is an extremely popular activity. Just throw on your bathing suits, and dress casually over top of them. Aside from the normally required sunscreen lotions, sprays or powders, just pack a cooler full of ice, water and low-sugar drinks, healthy snacks and sandwiches, a few beach toys and you are on your way to paradise. Unless, of course, the beach you end up at is full of bugs.

There are ways of avoiding the bigger swarms of bugs at the beach, mainly by venturing away from any nearby ponds or swamps, as well as steering clear of any major seaweed and see grass deposits on the beach. These grass and weed deposits usually have dead crabs and other formerly live aquatic species, which attract the bigger swarms and forms of bugs. Try to find a spot along the beach with no grasses washed up, and some natural shade from the sun, like a cliff face or sand dune.

For times when you do not feel like going in the water, nor laying in the sweltering sun, you can take a bug tent with you to the beach, and erect it as soon as you arrive. The bigger the tent, the more people you can have inside at the same time, and card games can be played. Euchre, anyone? Also great for meal time, so that you get to eat the food, not the bugs.

Spending a day at the beach can be extremely relaxing and invigorating, reminding you why you work so hard during the weeks and long winter months. You should always bring a beach umbrella (a patio table umbrella would do), just in case there are no shady spots available under trees, nor where any natural shade from the sweltering sun is available. While in the water, the sun's rays are reflected and a lot stronger, so you should wear a combination bug proof and waterproof sunscreen. You should also limit your times in the water to 15 to 20 minutes, interchanging with breaks in the shade, on the beach or in a forested area.

You can buy a combination bug spray and sunscreen lotion, also available in a more ecologically friendly powder form to try and keep the bugs away, but when bugs are bad at the beach, finding refuge can be a major task. A bug hat is useful for the eyes, ears and nose, however a full bug suit would be cumbersome and uncomfortable at the beach. You can bring battery operated bug repellents or killers, depending upon your morals and financial situation. A good to their word, battery operated bug repellent can cost upwards of $400 USD, whereas lemon candles and beach bug repellent torches can be had for under $10 each.

When the bugs get really bad at the beach, and you did not come prepared, you may find yourself spending way too much time in the water, where the bugs will usually not venture. However, no matter how much sunscreen you use, staying in the water for hours at a time, for multiple times, will cause serious sunburns, even when there is a light cloud covering.

You can also find respite from the bugs if the wind picks up. Find a spot where the wind is strongest, but not quite gale force. You don't want to be chasing all of your belongings up and down the beach, especially in the sweltering heat and under the burning sun's rays.

Be safe, and make sure that you stay out of the sun's rays between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., the time of day that the sun's rays are the strongest and do the most damage to skin. But, the bugs will be more prevalent during the hours before and after the sun's strongest hours.