myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

A concerned resident on Tobago has brought an issue to my attention that I confess I had never thought about - the potential damage to the reefs by suntan oil.

PLEASE only use biodegradable suntan oil. It is much less damaging to the environment. Just think of the effects of all the tourist who visit Tobago slapping oil all over themselves and then effectively washing it off in the sea. That must be like a small tanker running aground. A year’s slick of suntan oil can potentially cause a lot of damage to the reefs, so please, please use biodegradable suntan oil.

Good Point Steve,
But how can you tell if your suntan oil is biodegradeable? I don't recall seeing it on any of the oils I have ever used.

Regards
Kevin

A very good point that crossed my own mind. Hopefully someone will read the thread and be able to answer the question and recommend some good brands.

Hi Steve,

I just entered 'Biodegradable Sun Block' into Google and I came up with a few different brands. They all seem to be American, and priced in US$. The average price is about $7 for SPF 15.

I don't have my bottle of Amber Solaire beside me just now but I'm sure I noticed that it was bio-degradable when I read the back of the bottle.

I will confirm the authenticity of that statement later this evening

Joe

I've just received my Ultrasun sun cream (as recommended by Terry Warner - Thanks). You apply it only once a day 45 min before you go into the sun and it apparently soaks into your skin. It doesn't mention that it is biodegradable, but it does state that it is free of oils, emulsifiers and fragrance. This surely has to be better than normal sun oil ?
Jill.

To be honest, I'm having real trouble finding anything out about biodegradable sun protection. The major manufacturer's seem to be carefully avoiding the subject. The Ultrasun website does say their product is free of oil, and that's obviously the primary offender in this situation, so yes, it's probably better than other oil-based products.

I found an impressive website for a UK company - http://www.whiteginger.co.uk

Has anyone heard of this company or used its products?

sorry Steve - the link doesn't work. I think it is http://www.whiteginger.co.uk

Well I can confirm that the stag is fantastic stuff, and I was seeing things on my bottles of sunblock while liming in Tobago

I have found another british website who sell biodegradable sunblock
http://www.thenaturalskincarecompany.co.uk/

Joe

I´ts rearly interesting to follow Your discussion about the right label (or ingredients) of sun-oil.
Why don´t You try it WITHOUT any sun-oil or sunblocker etc. ?
Have a nice day

Horst Heiser

Thanks Jill – blooming full stop after the word broke the link, but all corrected now for any future readers.

Horst, you have a point, but we’re getting into really deep territory there. I admit that I hardly use the stuff personally, but then I don’t go out in the sun for extended periods. Let’s face it, not everyone is lucky enough to visit the tropics as often, or for as long as you, Horst, so you can take it more slowly, building up some degree of tan naturally. Most people have only two weeks and spend every waking minute in the sun. Without protection, they’d fry.

And why don’t I go out in the sun. Well, I was brought up in the tropics. It simply doesn’t have the same appeal, added to which I have seen the damage it can do. My father suffered from skin cancer, almost certainly a product of our years in Guyana. I don’t wish to be a party pooper, but you MUST either use a good protection, or not expose your skin to the sun for extended periods.

I can recommend Proderm, available at Sainsburys in the UK (larger branches). This is a mousse applied before you go out in a selection
of factors. I guess you allow one can each per week or so. Apply in morning and it lasts about 6 hours. Water proof and towel resistant.

Works really well and no nasty sticky feel.

Dear all

I fully agree with Steve's comments regarding sun protection. When in Tobago in March we saw a couple of girls who had burned really badly whilst on a boat trip for just a couple of hours on an overcast day.

We used for the first time a product called P20 and it was absolutely brilliant. You apply it (non-greasy, very nice) in the morning after showering. You should wait an hour and a half before going out in the sun and then it lasts all day, however many times you swim. It really works and saves you having to carry your sun-tan lotion around with you.We bought ours at Gatwick - it is also available at John Lewis and some other stores.

Pauline

hello you all
why don't you go with horsts recommendation and use non? wear a t-shirt while snorkelling. a white t-shirt always suited me best....
steph

Try mothernature.com. SPF-15 at http://www.mothernature.com/shop/detail.cfm/sku/54389

I would love if I could go on a summer holiday and not need the expense of Sun Blocks and After Sun lotion etc But I think that Horst and Steph will find that people from the european mainland get a lot more sun-time than us poor Irish and Brits!! We have to do with a relatively temperate climate where the clouds are a common party pooper as far as sun-bathing goes!!! I do not usually burn badly, I usually go brown at the hint of sun, but the picture below was taken on our first full day in Tobago in May, I had used factor 15 on my face and hadn't spent unusually long in the midday sun. I moved to a factor 25 for the rest of the holiday!!

Just a note to PaulineC on her post about P20 sun lotion. I have personally experienced and heard about people having severe allergic reactions to this sun block. Apparently they use a perfume in it which is a severe irritant to certain types of skin, especially when used on young children. I am not saying it is a bad sun block but I would recommend testing the sunblock on a small area before applying it to your entire body. I am also unsure about its Bio-degradability, which let us not forget is the subject of this topic

Joe

Hallo Steve, hallo Joe,
You are right ! We don´t want to tell You what to do.We just want to tell about our experience.
Maybe 10 years ago,Sylvia (the better half of mine) had a nice swim in Castara. After that some friendly guys came around to have a little lime with my daughter, who was with her. Time around 12 o´clock.She was sitting for 15 minutes on the beach.Let´s make a long story short : She got so badly sunburned, she lost one week of her holydays.It was rearly painful.
In further years we tried something different : The first 3 days we don´t go on the grill.After these days we never use our deck-chairs from 11 am to 3 pm. Before and later we try to get some tan.(And never get the nice colour like our tobagonian neighbours). But, and this is rearly important,follow the signals of Your skin ! At that time, You feel, it´s becoming hot, leave the sun immedeately.
We exercise these procedure since 8 or 9 years. Without any problems.And without any sun-oil-milk or however You want to call it.
O.K. we are dark-haired and don´t have a extremly sensitive skin. Everybody has to find his/her own way.
Joe, I think it´s still in the topic. If You don´t use any sun-oil, You can protect the reefes.
Have a nice day

Horst Heiser

Please,Joe, no more jokes about our weather !
We have the most rainy season here since several years. The temperatures ? A Tobagonian wouldn´t leave his home. But would ask for the third blanket.

Joe

I only have one thing to say: Scarieee!!! (and I’m not referring to the sunburn)

Steph & Horst

Yes, depending upon your skin/hair complexion you can build up a natural tan that provides a defence against the sun. At least, that used to be the case when I was a child and brought up in the tropics. Mind you, as I said, my father developed skin cancer so maybe the theory wasn’t so hot. Anyway, that was yesterday and this is today. If everything we read about the depleted ozone layer is true, then, with respect, is it responsible to recommend that anyone spends time in the sun without protection?

Remember, you are both permanent/semi-permanent residents of Tobago. You have had the time to build up that protection. The average overseas visitor – and here I’m obviously particularly referring to white Caucasian visitors from colder northern climes – has two weeks on the island and is determined to go home with a deep tan. It is inevitable that they will exceed the recommended limits and get too much sun – their time is too precious.

Staying on the beach in the sun is bad enough, but going out into the water in the sun, without skin protection, is just madness, surely? Sun, wind and salt crystals are a wicked combination. Yes, a t-shirt is a must, with or without sun cream protection, but what about the legs. I must tell you that I have suffered the effects of severely sunburnt legs while snorkelling. Believe you me, it was one of the most painful experiences I have ever suffered. The backs of the knees are particularly sensitive and when burnt, can be agony. I could not wear trousers for days. It was impossible to sleep at night, because anything that touched the back of my legs and knees was sheer agony. Walking was nigh on impossible for three or four days because every movement of the knee was like someone ripping my flesh off with a fork. Not an experience to be repeated, I assure you.

So, while it is a perfectly ecological way of avoiding the potential damage to the reefs and ecosystem caused by oils, I’m not sure that it is way that doctors and experts on the subject (of which I am NOT one) would recommend.

As the Australians say – “Slip, Slap, Slop – Slip on a shirt, Slap on a hat, Slop on some cream!”

I’ve being doing a bit of research into viable solutions to this problem and the name Ultrasun keeps coming up time and again. This is a relatively new Swiss product, but it seems to be making a big name for itself and a few minutes on the Internet produced some very strong endorsements.

It seems to definitely fit the bill as far as not damaging the reefs and ecosystems. It is also highly convenient as far as usage. I am sure that more than a few people get sunburned because they slopped on the oil/cream and then forgot to replace it later in the day, so something you can put on when getting up and which doesn’t leave you feeling oil or greasy has got to be a wonderful way forward.

Anyway, just to be sure that it was a product worth recommending within the context of this thread, I wrote to Ultrasun. Here is their reply:

All Ultrasun products contain no oils, emulsifiers or perfumes and bind with the skin cells so that the product is highly water resistant. These means that once applied, and after waiting 45 minutes, you do not have to reapply for up to 24 hours. You can swim, shower and towel dry and because the product has been absorbed by the skin your sun protection is still working. Hence there is no oily residue on the surface of the skin to come off into the water and cause problems with delicate coral reefs etc.

We have three levels of sun protection lotion - Protection 17, 20 and 28.

They are all once a day application, with no fats, emulsifiers or perfumes which makes them as non-allergic as possibly.

Regarding the very important point of UVA and UVB protection, all our products have high UVA as well as UVB protection. Protection 17 and 28 have 93% protection against UVA rays and Protection 20 gives 4 star protection of 63%. Protection 20 gives the lower UVA protection due to the gel formulation of the product which limits the amount of UVA ingredient which the product can hold.

All our products should be put onto clean dry skin as they are absorbed by the skin and bond with the skin cells to give the sun protection. If any product is put on the skin before the sun cream it would hinder this absorption and your skin would not be protected. After application we advise to wait 45 mins before going out into the sun but you can dress as soon as it is applied, because there is no sticky residue, and after approx 30 mins you can apply moisturiser and makeup as normal.

So, what’s the catch? Well, like all the good products in this market it ain’t cheap and it isn’t widely available in the high street yet. Typical prices are around £12-14. Having said that, being stingy with the cost of your own health is obviously false economy and nothing can ruin a holiday more than sunburn.

You can get Ultrasun from stores like John Lewis and the Ultrasun website - http://www.ultrasun.co.uk – has a useful Store Locater on their “Where to Buy” page that will list retail outlets in your UK area. Of course there’s tons of places you can buy it by mail order through the Internet, so simply Google “Ultrasun”.

Contacts for other European countries, and more information about the product range, can be found at their parent company site http://www.ultrasun.net

Jill and I shall certainly be giving this product a try during our next visit, so we’ll report back in more detail after that and be delighted to hear the views of any visitors who have used Ultrasun.

Now Now Steve,

I have never said a word about your 'youthfull' looks Just think I could have sent you the picture with only my speedo's on

Lets stay on topic eh...

did my snorkelling before I started living here, on my holidays. I'm a blond german....
but I took care that I'm not in the sun all day and made sure I kept my forehead under water while snorkelling
never mind!
steph