Murray and I started to pull out “stuff” the other day and now our living room looks like a disaster zone. We have a Murray pile, a Debbie pile and a “to be looked at” pile.
Utila Packing Piles
Once again, I realized why we do this early. I started to go through the “to be looked at” pile and realized we need dive log pages. We also need to test the batteries for our dive lights and hook up the strobe flash, camera and housing to make sure it all works properly. These chores take time and I dislike doing these in a hurry or a panic, as would happen if this was one of two days before we were leaving. We have time now.
Utila has sand flies. The Deep Blue (where we are staying) website says to bring a 20% DEET repellent. We had encountered sand flies in Bonaire and we got eaten alive because we did not have any repellent. My legs looked like I had a bad case of the measles or chickenpox. This time, I am going to use it even though I do not like it. Today I found some insect repellent wipes made by Ben’s. Great for carry on travelers! The box contains 12 individually wrapped wipes. Murray has a deep-seeded hatred of all things DEET as it melted his plastic casing on his camera many many years ago. Things haven’t changed much as shown by this statement listed under the Precautions on the box: May damage furniture finishes, plastic, painted surfaces, synthetic fabrics or leather. Guess I will only use these wipes if I really have to.
Ben's Insect Repellent Wipes
I stopped at the AMA (Alberta Motor Association) today and picked up a map of Houston. It won’t hurt to have a real map with us as we will be exploring the city for part of a day.
Over the next few days, I am going to tackle my clothes (Murray has pulled out his already!) and the first aid kit. That should have us looking pretty good for this far out from leaving. The disaster zone will only get worse before it disappears all together.