Mossies

[Pia]

"Oh the mossies outside are frightful
And their bites are NOT delightful
So if you're outside today
You better spray, better spray, better spray"

Yes they are starting to get bad after the rains of last week - not as bad as they will probably be in a few days but they are getting there so be prepared

Pia

[loria]

ugh........i remember one august.....horrible......literally a fog of mosses......

[Pickle]

Oh dear... As an annual May visitor, I am rather used to it, unfortunately. At times the skeeters were so vicious and determined that they were trying to get us while we waded. It literally felt like relief could only be found underwater.

[Agent99]

Oh, bummer. My brother and his gf are arriving Monday for a couple of weeks. He's been twice with us but always in Feb or April and the bugs have never been bad. It's her first time there- I hope it does not diminish their enjoyment.

[dreamshark]

What does "frightful mosquitoes" really mean on St. John? Are they on you all day, or just at dawn and dusk? If there's a breeze on your outside deck does it keep them away? Do they sneak into your house and buzz around your head all night, or is it mostly an outside thing?

For comparison, when mosquitoes are REALLY bad in Minnesota they are out day and night, although worse in the evening. They literally swarm around your whole body, buzz in your ears, get caught in your hair. Mosquito repellent discourages them from biting to some extent, but they still swarm around unprotected skin, take a sniff and then (if you're lucky) move away. The brave ones bite anyway.

I'm talking about bad mosquito hatches up north, in woodsy swampy areas. It's never that bad inside a "mosquito control district" where I live. But there have been some summers where even in our backyard in the city the mosquitoes were too annoying to even think of sitting outside at dusk no matter how much repellent you might be wearing, and quite a few always manage to get inside despite screens on every orifice of the house.

How does that compare to a bad mosquito hatch in St. John? I'm thinking it can't be that bad or there wouldn't be all those villas with open arches and no screens.

[TrvlJohn]

I was on the brown bay trail this morning and stopped to adjust my shoe. In seconds there was a black swarm around me. Hundreds of them. I immediately decided that my shoe would be fine the way it was. I was covered in off so they just hovered around me but I was amazed by the number of them.

[EagleRayLover]

Pretty bad at Wagapoolza last night,but as soon as I got saturated with spray it was all good! Congrats to all the Forumites who won raffle prizes!!

[AquaGirl]

DS
We had 2 trips to STJ a few years ago (one in April, one in May) where the mosquitoes were as you describe. We were totally swarmed when we went outside, and I had well over 100 bites by the end of the trip. They were thick inside as well, but we would spend time swatting and spraying until the inside of the villa was liveable. Each time we went out to the Jeep to leave for the day, we would run for it, throw stuff in the vehicle, then get going as soon as possible because they swarmed us in the Jeep. I would swat while my husband drove. When we got to a road where we could go relatively fast, we opened the windows the blow them out. They also swarmed us at the beach. At Maho, we had to quickly get out snorkeling gear and get into the water because they swarmed and bit us. Same with getting out of the water to go back to the villa. I had to wear long sleeves and long pants when hanging out on the deck of our villa. The restaurants all had bug spray (all the ones we went to were open air). We only rent villas that can be closed off with screen doors, if necessary. We love being in the open air, however screened in rooms, especially with a ceiling fan, are a must for us in case we happen to be there during a bad bloom. Our other trips in April and May were delightful with minimal bug bites. so...the bottom line is you will need to be prepared for swarming. We travel with our tennis racket style bug racket, in addition to bug spray, when we go to any of the islands now.

[cosmolady]

Good morning!
Is it my imagination or are the Mosquitos dying down???

[TrvlJohn]

Much better. Really just 2 bad days and it has been getting better ever since.