Just a quick question for now. I just spent a great week in Bonaire diving and a couple of us got some kind of rash on our hands (and one girl on her thighs as well).

It is bumpy and itches like the devil. Any ideas what caused it....how to treat it???

thanks
rich

Hi Rich and Welcome to Bonaire Talk. Certainly hope you will give us all a trip report when things get back to normal for you.. The rash sounds like you might have brushed up against some fire coral..Were you touching things you shouldn't have been touching??? Others might have an idea as well.. I don't know how to treat it, but I guess some hydrocortisone cream probably wouldn't hurt, perhaps some benedryl also.. good luck and DON"T SCRATCH!!!

Did you do a lot of boat dives, and use the mooring lines to descend and ascend? There may have been fire coral on those lines, and if you didn't use a put a bit of diveskin or something between your bare hands (and thigh?) and line, that could have been the problem.

Or Christmas tree hydroids, Susan. Their favorite spot seems to be anchor lines.

Thanks all. No, actually I am pretty paranoid about touching things. I didn't touch anything I wasn't suppose to....and no....didnt do any boat dives. All my dives were shore dives. It started about the third day there. And Im pretty sure the girl that had the same problem with her upper legs didn't touch anything and she was wearing full length suit.

It seems to be going away very slowly and the itch is killed with the hydrocort...

Were any of you at Gibi's that night when Herman took us there??
rich

it could be sun-rash? I keep getting this more and more each year. Little bumps (reddish). First in my neck, then also on my face (cheeks) and also now on my arms. Now my docter gave me a special ointment so when I am out in the sun it should not happen anymore

I guess it could be....although I live in NC and in the summer time we are known for a little of the sun.

If I go back to Bonaire again, would the scuba police get excited if I wore thin surgical gloves with the fingers cut out? I'm not wild about getting this stuff again.
rich

Rich,

It could be sea lice. I have never run into them in Bonaire but we did run into them on some dives in Roatan once and I think in Turks and Caicos. If you were wearing a tight fitting wet suit, that might explain why it was only on your hands. Some people did get bites under their wet suits but I think their's were not as tight fitting. In Roatan some of us were using deet to repel the mosquitoes due to the milaria on the island and the ones using deet did not seem to get the bites.

Just one more possibility to think about.

Dr. Doo

It seems like "out of season" for sea lice, but one never knows, do one?
Did you see any "tobacco flecks" in the water Rich?

hands...thighs...rashes...gee I don't know

Wow, interesting. We just got back too and have a bunch of bites and bumps. They look like flea bites and itch like the dickens. I thought they were mosquitos or sand flys (no-see-ums), but I think I'm still getting them even after we got back! It seemed like I first got them on Thursday after the rain. They're mostly on my arms and feet.

Another couple who was there at the same time had them too.

Hmmmm, this is very strange. Although, my daughter, 16, got a rash too when she was in Bonaire back in August. She had not used buy spray, from then on she did and rash went away. We just thought they were bug bites. But with all the rain, silt going into the water, maybe some kind of bug is biting you. Whatever bites you in the water at Klein leaves a rash as well and does itch too. Some people maybe more sensitive to it and take longer to go away. Maybe some form of lice? But then you would have it all over. I really can't think of anything else except bug bites or something in water.

We went diving at Klein as well. Another theory I have is it's something from Lac Bay. We did step on some coral or something in the sea grass while windsurfing there, but I would think it would be just on our feet (which did sting for a few hours), but my arms and hands are just as bad.

I got what I think was chiggers in Costa Rica once, pretty similar symptoms.

Don't remember anything floating in the water.

I just got an email from the girl who got it too. She is still there a couple more days and says she is going nuts with the stuff.

Oh well....just one of life's little mysteries...one I could do without !!
thanks all...

rich

Hi all.

My husband had a rash a couple of weeks ago - red, sort of bumpy - and horribly itchy.

The botica (pharmacy) here gave him salicylspiritus to use on it (some sort of alcohol based liquid) and it went away within a week. (He had previously tried benadryl topical and oral with no luck).

May be worth trying? (Note it does sting to put it on!)

Good luck !
Annette

Ohhhhhhhhhh that is part of the problem I have been drinking all alcohol based products....and I was suppose to rub them on !!!!

Just kidding.....the hydrocortisone does the trick for the itch...and I have a feeling this just has to run its course. Man what a run though.
rich

Annette, any more info on how he was exposed to the rash?
When we see what look like tobacco flecks in the water, we try to avoid them as they can be pretty irritating.

SALICYLIC ACID
WHAT IT IS: Salicylic acid is an ingredient used in many over-the-counter acne medications. It is often found with pads as applicators (such as Stri-dex pads). It is also used to treat other skin disorders including dandruff, psoriasis, calluses, corns, warts, and more.
WHAT IT DOES: Acne is formed when skin cells inside hair follicles shed too fast and clump together, plugging up the follicle and causing a pimple. Salicylic acid helps slow down shedding of the cells inside the follicles, preventing clogging. Salicylic acid also helps break down blackheads and whiteheads.

Copied w/o permission from acne.org

A good Linkhttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202516.html#SXX04

Did it rain during the period you were there.
Could it be that you got some water of the trees over you.
Did you climb in any trees.
Some trees can give you a nasty rash.

Hee Hee Rich....perhaps drinking the alcohol based products may help reduce the annoyance of the itch????

Seb....he has no idea where or how he got the rash. He's not a diver and actually seldom goes to the ocean (only after much begging from me :-)...he's usually too busy with work (aahhh life on paradise)! So...that being said, the week that he got it, he did do a lot of work around a kunuku which is also a plant nursery. Maybe he came in contact with some plant - but hard to tell which since there are sooo many !

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Annette

Funny you should mention the acne stuff and the Stri-dex pads as I always take them with me when I dive and as soon as I get back to the truck and take off me gear I clean my face with the pads. More than anything to get the salt water off and any other residue. Guess now I have even more of a reason to do that.

I didn't have a bit of problem face wise....or leg wise like another diver. Just on the tops of my hands.
rich

A friend of mine had a similar rash that turned out to be caused by taking anti seasickness medication. He was taking Triptone and Bonine together. Caused an alergic reaction. He had a heck of a time figuring out what was causing the rashes every time he went diving.

Nope....didn't do any drugs.

It is really starting to go away now. About 2/3s gone.

Annette,

Give our greetings to Mark. It was sure good to read your note about going to the "botica". We knew you had been on Bonaire for a while. I wasn't sure you were Mark's wife, but Connie just confirmed that.

Don't know if or when you will see this, but anyway we sure miss Bonaire after 32 years of living there. - Dan and Connie

Hey there Canfields !!

So good to see a note from you !! We're doing really well and so are Poopi and Stinki (the kittens we adopted from your cat !). It's been like 10 years since then ....

When will ya'll visit???

Love to everyone,
Annette & Mark

Well, well, imagine talking on the internet! Over a fast trip possibility! No we really don't have plans, sad to say. We don't even get to see Michelle and Lavonne in Florida much - they can hardly wait to go back to Bonaire where they grew up. If we were going to travel though, which we can do now as soon as we get our Canadian Permanent Residence cards, we would go to Florida and see our three grandchildren that are growing up without us! We're not retired yet, so we can't take out that much time. We send Nicole to Florida every summer to visit her two sisters, especially since they're old enough to be her mothers - she needs to feel she has sisters. She experienced two hurricanes last summer. She said they ate lots of bread and Vienna Sausages and drank warm water.

We'd completely forgotten about your cats. So they are still around. Maybe the warm, salty climate does it. Also lots of exercise chasing lizards. Our skin is all cracky and flaky here in Canada. Bonaire certainly was a healthy place to live. Your equipment all rusted away, including glasses frames, but your body kept well. Might suffer from the sun, but the salt was good for you.

You know I still see crabs on the road here some times even in the winter. Then I remember, good grief crabs don't cross the road here at -30 degrees, must be something else. After 4 years, we still have our Bonaire mind set. I'm still talking about Guilders instead of $$. The Canadian Loonie looks something like the Guilder coin. I went into a new car wash here the other day and asked if they took Guilder coins!! The man just sort of looked at me and said, no but we do take Loonies! I guess it's hard to teach an old dog like me, new tricks. I almost feel "loonie".

I don't know if I'm allowed to talk so much on this, so I had better quit. Nicole was horrified that you'd call your cats Poopi and Stinki!! lol! Got to go for now, Merry Christmas - Dan for the 5 of us, (we have two cats too, Ping and Lamb - Siamese)
PS. sure enjoyed the pictures of the Queen Mary 2 posted a while ago. I remember once when the QE2 was tied up there, with no less than 3 other ships. Two of them had to stand out to sea and wait. We did a lot of driving for the passenger tours. Do they ask local people to do that any more? We got to know some fabulous people from Europe, England, USA and Canada - Got paid for it too! You can't expect to have enough rental cars, etc. for just that short time when so many people flood the island. Like I said, got to go! - Dan

Dan, you talk all you want - you'll never catch up to the rest of us
seb

Hi, Just returned from Bonaire on Sat. the 18th of Dec. and I too have a rash on my hands, feet, ankles, and legs... it's driving me crazy! It's just like clusters of tiny bumps that itch like crazy. I thought it was some kind of sand fleas or something. We only were diving until wednesday, then windsurfing on thursday, and horseback riding on friday. I think I began to see it either thursday or friday and it still hasn't gone away. I'm going to try some cortisone cream and see if that helps now.

Dawn

My husband, daughter and daughter-in-law are all actually allergic to the bug bites on Bonaire. The girls broke out in very itchy red bumps all over and my husbands bumps turned into hives. A visit to the dr. for my husband and perscription allergy pills solved the problem. The botica (pharmacy) suggested trying chlortrimeton as an alternative over the counter. I never thought we would be able to return again but my husband was willing to try and we purchased the Walmart genaric version to take with us. We will be coming back for our 11th year in March and and long as he takes one of the pills a day he has no problem with the bugs or itching. My poor daughter forgot to take some with her on the way home and the pills wore off and she itched so bad she had to stop and buy some medication on the way home. My poor daughter-in-law suffered for days with red itchy welts because she didn't know what caused them.

Especially from shore dives on Bonaire, one must be aware of a highly poisonous tree called, in papimentu, "Manzalina de Bobo," little apple of a fool. It has shiny leaves with a prominent midrib, and often conspicuous tiny red berries in clusters. My experience with it is dreadful and the local doctors will call it almost anything: shingles, sun allergy, food allergy, water allergy, no-see-ums, mosquitoes. None of the plant field guides will have it, especially with quick-visiting Dutch authors who don't stay around and really learn the plants. Scientific name is Metopium brownii and one has a name tag on it as you go down the hill from the Caribbean Club (Hilltop) just past the entrance to the Marine Park. Immediately after turning north at the bottom of the hill is a small pull off. There on your right is the tree with a green identification tag.
Remedy: Daktacort, a creme with miconazol-hyrocortisona and made by Janssen-Cilag.

From the Naturalist, Below and Above, Bonaire---Jerry Ligon

Jerry, I googled the scientific name, but only came up with "wood" sites. Do you have a picture of it? I think that would be of great help so we can clearly identify it.

Wow, I'm impressed and humbled ! We have greatness among us ! Welcome to Bonaire Talk, Jerry. I hope we hear from you often, as I am sure you will have valuable input !

\image





from my island's photos, recently taken but not showing the small reddish clustered fruit...Jerry

I absolutely agree with you Jerry.
It is even worse when it rains and you walk by it or under it.

When we lived in Cuarcao we where always very careful with it. But unfortunately my son climbed in a manzalina tree at Playa Lagun when it had rained.

An "old tropical doctor" diagnosed it properly and, now I read the name of the creme in yr post, probably prescribed the same creme.

is it similar to this tree Jerry, found in St Marteens?
MANCHIONEEL
Family: Euphorbiacea
Hippomane mancinella
This large poisonous tree grows commonly along Caribbean beaches. The fruit resembles a small green apple; it is poisonous, so don’t sample it! Ingestion can be fatal.

Jerry, where is your image?

pictures

http://rps.uvi.edu/VIMAS/web_manchineel2.jpg
http://www.spacerad.com/lara/manchineel.jpg
http://www.nevis1.com/manchineel2.jpg
http://rachelblonde.freeuk.com/stvincenttour/images/tree.jpg
http://www.joanneandmike.com/caribbean/p22/med_DSC01940.jpg
http://jimintheusvi.net/StJohn/stpix6.jpg

Jerry,

Can you buy this creme over the counter or do you need a script for it from doctor. I will be visiting Bonaire again soon and would like to bring some of that with me. Thanks for the info. Very helpful.

Here on Bonaire, I first had to get a prescription from my local doctor, then after I only presented the empty container and paid for it myself. Recently, Botica Bonaire informed me that I had to have a prescription, after 5 years of not having to. Figure.
Better get a presctiption there in US. Jerry

Bob, thanks for the links. I remember seeing a LOT of these trees on St. Maarten. They look so harmless! Wow, and that last link with the sign says it all!

Jerry, thanks for jumping in and letting us know about this one. There have been a lot of folks reporting a rash after visiting the island, I wonder if this was the cause for a lot of the problems.

{Metopium brownii}

{}

{image}

Jerry, keep trying! It's this:

\image {name}

without the space between the work "image" and the "{name}"

Wooohooo Jerry! Hard work pays off! It sure is pretty, and decieving!

Thanks Cynde: I don't give up. I have realized how many visitors have had rashes after doing extended hiking, shore-dives, horse-back riding, biking, jogging, or just peeping and botanizing while here and have no idea what they did wrong. Jerry

In fact, people wonder why I have a sly (sleazy?) grin on my face when they ask me if there are any dangerous animals that they should be aware of while here on the island. Jerry

Jerry, that's funny. That tree appears to be the most dangerous thing on the island after reading about it (above and below)...LOL!

Jerry,

TKS for the answers. A couple of questions from all of the above and assuming the source is the tree species.

No one mentions contact with a tree. Likely unstated contact or are we talking an aerosol in the vicinity of the tree? Distance for 'in the vicinity of'?

These are the first mentions I remember of this on BT or when I have been on island. Something new on Bonaire or new reports? I gather the latter from the mentions of prescriptions given on island. Level of 'problem'?

We had a few Bonaire friends that had a rash when the problem with car break-ins was just starting. They were hiding their 'stuff' in the trees. Something was dripping on the bags and with them handling it, they got a bad rash. Not only that, when the bags were put on the truck seat, something transferred to people's legs.
Jerry, might it be worse when it has been so very wet? I think it was wet that first time.

A little off topic, but Hi Jerry.

Oops, image size issues

Yes peggy, it is worse when it rains.
The falling raindrops from the leaves makes it easier to transfer the caustic sap from the tree on your skin.

Glenn, as far as my experience goes: it is contact with the caustic sap from the tree. Sitting in the shade or finding shelter during rain under a manzalina is not advisable


(Message edited by bpsmits on January 5, 2005)

To make things complicated: there also is he so called "appeldam" tree. It also bears small apples and has similar leaves a the manzalina. That tree is harmless and gives wonderful shade. I had one in my garden.
Very often I saw people sitting under a manzalina tree at the "playa" thinking it was a appeldam.

I could not find a picture on the internet but maybe our "tree-Guru" Jerry can help us out with the scientific name.

Apeldam's scientific name is Zizyphus spina-christi, but has conspicuous thorns, a curved spine in the axil of the leaves. Fruit, however would appear like Manchineel, small green to yellowish fruit. Bonaire does not have, thank goodness, extensive groves of Manchineel and not along the entry sites for divers, but more concentrated along the paved road that runs along the mangrooves at Cai on the East coast. Manchineel is also a bad one for causing skin irritations, and worse if ingested. Jerry

Wow, impressive Jerry; thank you

Mark,

Is the female diver bracing against the reef with her hand? Looks like someone needs to work on their buoyancy! Ouch - poor reef!

Belinda

Belinda, just an observation from my monitor, hard to tell...however, if it is Jerry with the ball cap on, I seriously doubt she has her hand on the reef.

Jerry, Bob, thanks for the tree to avoid at all costs information.

At first I thought she was holding onto the coral, but looking closer, I can see her hand is above the coral. The way she is holding her hand looks like she is touching.

The guy with that hat...it looks like Pepe from Divi. If so, I know he'd reminder her not to touch.

Hi! My name is Lorraine, and I've been reading your posts, trying to soak up all the info I can, because my boyfriend Geoff and I are leaving in the morning for Bonaire! We'll be staying at the Divi for 10 days...can't wait! But I wanted to let you know that I did some research on the medicine that Jerry so graciously provided, and it is hard to come by in the states! I live in nyc, and none of the pharmacies around have it...BUT there's hope! <smile>

Like Jerry said, it's miconozole and hydrocortizone, 2% and 1% respectively. Because Janssen is a european company, I checked on the internet for brand names for miconozole, and found that micatin (Tinactin ointment), or monistat (for gynocological use) or monistat-derm (for topical use) are all miconozole! I called the pharmacist and he concurred that if we bring a tube of tinactin and a tube of hydrocortizone cream, we should be golden if any rash occurs while we're away.

Just thought you should know, since so many people seem to be suffering from it lately!

See you there!
Hey, by the way, does anyone know if it's REALLY raining there now? All the weather forecasts show rain for at least the next five days, but I remember last year's trip was the same, and there was a passing rain shower every once in awhile, and then the sun would be out for most of the time. Just trying to get an idea of what we're in for this time!

Thanks!
Lorraine

Hi again! Just wanted to let you know that when I went to the pharmacy, tinactin is actually another medication, not miconozole. But I found it in a topical cream called Micatin. Just fyi!

Lorraine

The photo is of Jerry L. the naturalist leading a dive in late December, looking no doubt at an obscure tiny fish, and wearing his red St. Louis cap. Don't worry, no reef touching going on. I know because it's my dive buddy in the yellow fins, learning another fish to ID from Jerry.

Here's an example of a cool find Jerry made. This is a Whitestar Cardinalfish Apogon lachneri that Jerry showed us at Angel City on December 24. It's about 1-2 inches long, and of course it lives in a hole in the coral so that you can't get a good picture.

Mark,

Thanks for clearing up the touching issue - isn't it amazing how deceiving a 2-dimensional picture can be!

Belinda