USVI-On-Line

Regarding your experience at Sea Stone, we had very few mosquitos or bugs of any kind when we stayed next door at Nautilus. I wonder if having so many iguana roaming free on these two properties has something to do with that. Do the iguana eat the mosquito nests or is it just that these properties are in a very dry spot? Lots of cacti surround these homes.

We have had bats in Catherineburg, a scorpion in Chocolate Hole North (in the cottage part not the house) and the first time I ever noted roaches was this past summer...little ones at our villa (Contant Point) but a few big ones at restaurants in town.

I can tell you that the ONLY bug that freaks me out are roaches...especially when they fly. If our next villa has roaches, I will call the agent (thanks to you guys cuz I hadn't thought to do that) and see if they can do anything.

We've stayed twice near Chocolate Hole. First place was terrible, mosquito-wise, and on the morning we left, we found a scorpion in the kitchen sink. The great room was open to the air and when making dinner I was always dancing because the mosquitoes showed up in droves right around dinner-time. Several times, they got inside the mosquito netting on our bed and drove me insane.

Second place, a little higher up, we had mosquitoes (though not as bad) but LOTS of no-see-ums. And they ALL found ME!

We had lots of iguanas, too, but they mostly stayed on the pool deck (and pooped a lot!)! Hubby has to clean it up each morning before we went for a swim.

Oh great, our villa mentioned that a neighborhood iguana hangs out on the pool deck. I am not cleaning up iguana poo all week!

gizmolady wrote: We had lots of iguanas, too, but they mostly stayed on the pool deck (and pooped a lot!)! Hubby has to clean it up each morning before we went for a swim.

I know what you mean. If iguanas are there, their droppings are there too! Our iguanas behaved themselves better than yours perhaps... we didn't have to clean it up everyday

Knolmom,
Not sure how much iguanas are contributing to the "so-few-bugs/critters" factor at those villas. I think the "right at the edge of the cliff" location and the great breeze help having fewer bugs.

Knolmom, we were at Nautilus last week and there was no breeze for most of the week. The skeeters were hungry! By the end of the week the breeze began picking up again, and we were bug free again. I guess we had the calm before the storm, because the last time we stayed there in 2004, we had no bugs at all.

We actually brought a fan out on the deck to help blow the bugs away!

Knolmom wrote:Regarding your experience at Sea Stone, we had very few mosquitos or bugs of any kind when we stayed next door at Nautilus. I wonder if having so many iguana roaming free on these two properties has something to do with that. Do the iguana eat the mosquito nests or is it just that these properties are in a very dry spot? Lots of cacti surround these homes.

Iguanas have nothing to do with mosquitos, or any bugs for that matter. Nautilus and Sea Stone are almost directly below Avalon. The wind, and the resultant dryness, keep bugs to a minimum.

If your place has cactus, there will be fewer bugs. Ants and roaches need water. The area below Catherineburg is the wettest on the island, the north side more wind sheltered; some bugs are inevitable. Even spotless housekeeping will not eliminate them!

I'm a little surprised that more people have not talked about rats. There are rats in all areas of STJ. Orkin must be doing a great villa business!

We had a TERRIBLE experience during our last visit in December -- mostly with the cockroaches.

As you all know I've been visiting for a while and know what to expect but this last experience was so bad we demanded 30% of or money back (since I spent 30% of my vacation killing cockroaches).

It was the last straw when we found them on pillows, toothbrushes and were awakened by them crawling into bed with us at night. I was DONE!! I was literally in tears at the Villa Co office.

Bottom line is that if the owner or Mgmnt co is cutting corners on bug treatment at the house it is noticeable. With times getting tougher this may become more common.

STJ critters are inevitable-- but if you start noticing it too much perhaps they need to spray or step up pest control.

If not the villa and/or agent, what part of the island?

MLS-- are you talking to me?? If so, Catherineburg -- off of John Head Rd.

We've stayed on Rendezvous Bay and Great Cruz Bay with no issues but an occasional ant. I understand having some bugs but I would NOT be happy if there were bugs all over the place...Might be the rental company too...Seaview Homes is wonderful...

Yikes... I feel really lucky. We've had very little trouble w/ mosquitos (most of our trips have been in Dec or Mar), and just occasional visits by little gekko-type lizards, one big cockroach, and one too-friendly bat. Absolutely no scorpions. That scares me. We are pretty retentive about keeping the kitchen clean of all food and crumbs, and remove the garbage daily. Most of our stays have been in Coral Bay or on Ajax Peak, if anyone thinks location makes a real difference. The only significant issue we had was the one time we stayed on the south side, and one of our party was absolutely eaten up (outside in the evening on the deck) by no-seeums. While I think of it, that was also the place that had tree rats living in the BBQ. A big surprise the first time, but entertaining thereafter watching the scramble every time we lit the fire!

For no-see-ums to be a problem you normally have to be close to the water and low-under 80 ft.

MLS...
I thought so too. But we weren't low or near the water. And they were definitely not mosquitos. (Trust me... we live in MN and we know what mosquitos are!). So, maybe some other teeny gnat-type thing? They were mostly active at night. Our friend had hundreds of bites on his legs, and they all got red and huge. The rest of us had some bites.. but nothing like him. (Also...being the smoker... he was out on the deck at night more often than the rest of us!). What other type of tiny biting thing could it be? We've never experienced anything like that anywhere else on the island. (We were up on the hill, very wooded, south side, above Ditliff).

thank goodness i've never seen a tarantula or a scorpion there! we've always stayed around the chocolate hole area. the only places i've seen rodents (ginormous rats really...) were at the westin. ick! this is why being there on a sailboat is really great - no bugs whatsoever