Outdoor Life is Caribbean Life
For some, the phrase “Caribbean outdoor living” might bring to mind a vacation filled with beaches, snorkeling, sailing, and other recreational activities. But for Caribbean residents, outdoor life is much more ordinary and deeply woven into daily life. The outdoors isn’t simply somewhere Caribbean people go; it is part of where Caribbean life happens.
CARICOM, The Caribbean Community, describes how outdoor activities like sports are “an important part of our culture and feature of life in our Community”. Cricket holds a particularly deep place in Caribbean life, with a passionate following throughout virtually all of the English-speaking member states. Football and other sports bring people outdoors to participate and spectate. Swimming, cycling, and track and field further illustrate the breadth of outdoor activity enjoyed by Caribbean residents. Together, these traditions of sports are a part of the cultural identity that CARICOM emphasizes as important to preserving and strengthening the Caribbean community.1
An article about the small community of Castara, Tobago, provides a vivid example of what outdoor living can look like in a Caribbean community. As fishermen bring in nets, children play football on the beach. Residents congregate to enjoy music, food, and community gatherings. Fishing and farming are combined with tourism to produce a flourishing community. Residents take tourists on hikes, exploring the vast and luscious forest preserves. Visitors and residents both enjoy snorkeling, diving, and spending time on the water. Finally, evenings naturally transition into outdoor socializing, enjoying the beautiful weather common to communities like Castara. As is the case across the Caribbean, outdoor tourism exists alongside daily Caribbean life, rather than apart form it. Outdoor Caribbean spaces simultaneously exist as places for work, recreation, culture, family, and community.2
Another article, “Barbados – Fishing: A Way of Life,” reinforces the idea that outdoor living in the Caribbean isn’t always recreational. The article describes fishermen and women working outdoors from early morning through the evening, and even late at night. They spend their time outdoors walking beaches, fishing from the shore and on boats, repairing their boats and mending nets, and bringing their catches back to market. For many Caribbean residents, the outdoors is their workplace, their source of livelihood, and a connection to generations of tradition.3
From the cricket field to the fishing boat, the beach to the hiking trail, outdoor spaces are woven into Caribbean life. Protecting the people who enjoy and depend on those spaces means helping protect an important part of the Caribbean culture.
Protect Your Outdoor Lifestyle with IMPEDE
As outdoor living is part of everyday life in the Caribbean, encountering mosquitoes and other biting insects is more than an occasional annoyance. They can interrupt the activities, traditions, and moments that bring people together throughout the Caribbean. Biting insects can show up anywhere people spend time outdoors: at a cricket game, fishing at sunset, an evening gathering, a hike through tropical surroundings, a family day at the beach, an outdoor community event. As biting insects have the potential of carrying harmful diseases, like dengue, zika, or chikungunya, Caribbean residents and tourists alike can benefit from choosing a suitable insect repellent and using it consistently to prevent bites before they occur.
IMPEDE insect repellent was developed with one simple goal: to make effective mosquito protection easy enough to become part of everyday Caribbean life. By providing up to 14 hours of protection, IMPEDE helps make daily mosquito prevention simpler and more consistent. Formulated with the controlled-release technology, STAYTEC™, IMPEDE keeps the active ingredient, IR3535®, on the skin surface longer. STAYTEC™ reduces evaporation and gradually releases the active ingredient over time, helping maintain effective protection throughout the day. The prolonged repellency of IMPEDE can help reduce the need for frequent reapplication when used according to the product label and under appropriate conditions, making it easier to incorporate insect protection into everyday life.
IMPEDE is also a lotion-based repellent formula, designed for all-day comfort. The lightweight lotion of IMPEDE is comfortable enough for everyday wear, with a skin-friendly formula that is odorless, quick-drying, and leaves no greasy residue. The sweat- and water-resistant IMPEDE formula uses IR3535®, an effective repellent active ingredient recommended by the CDC as a safe option for protection against mosquitoes and other biting insects. IMPEDE is formulated for use by children as young as 2 months and is suitable for pregnant women and individuals with sensitive skin. IMPEDE is a mosquito repellent solution that is suitable for families, designed for Caribbean conditions, and available locally across the region. Designed for Caribbean conditions, IMPEDE can be used alongside sunscreen, making it easy to incorporate into everyday outdoor routines. Long-lasting, comfortable protection makes IMPEDE easier to use consistently – supporting healthier individuals, healthier families, and ultimately healthier communities.
Protecting yourself from biting insects shouldn’t mean avoiding the outdoors. When we protect ourselves, we preserve our ability to enjoy the places, traditions, and outdoor experiences that make Caribbean communities unique. IMPEDE helps make that protection simple, so you can spend less time worrying about biting insects and more time living the Caribbean lifestyle.
Protect the people. Protect the lifestyle. Protect the culture. Protection made simple with IMPEDE.