USVI-On-Line

Well its T-5 days and counting and I am headed to pick up a few gallons of sunscreen and insect repellent tonight, but was wondering if there is anyone on STJ now who can give me a current skeeter update?? (low, average, bring a extra pint of blood??)

I saw someone posted today that Maho was particularly bad last week which is really disappointing since that is my wife's favorite beach. Are there any beaches which seem to be worse than others?

Thanks!

Eric

Reporting in from STJ.....I would say,bring an extra pint of blood!!!!! This is our third trip and I feel like it is the worst we have experienced. The bugs are biting us in the middle of the day on the beach in the sun and forget about early morning and night time! But are we still having fun? ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

from Caneel..... some but not as many on in the past....

Has anyone been over to Hawksnestt, Trunk, Leister or Gibney?

This is a live report from the porch of Luna Vista.

We stopped moving for about five minutes just now and were covered by swarming little bugs! We did not see any below 30 feet during our dives!

This is not a suggestion. This is a directive! Find Off Clip-on repellents. Bring one for every man woman and child in your group. Include an extra set if double A batteries and a refill for every five days that you will be here for each clip-on. Whenever we are staying in one place (the neat sheet on the beach, a chair at the Beach Bar, etc.) they work with about a 99% rate of effectivness. They create an envelope of this product around you in what appears to be a six foot radius.

We also tried the Bullfrog product with repellent and were disappointed. Although the repellent aspect was fairly good, we learned the hard way that this one is not waterproof.

JIM

We went to Hawksnest and Gibney this afternoon. I would rate the infestation there as moderate. Maho must be close to a good deal of standing water. There the infestation was a 12 on a 1-10 scale.

The Beach Bar was about a 2 or 3 on that scale. We don't know if the ETOH was the actual repellent.

JIM

thanks for the heads up. We arrive on Friday and for some reason, my son...with his lovely buzz cut always gets eaten up. I dont' mind doing the deet thing...(don't flame me)....on my kids....but I think I will find those clip on things too! That will turn my 4 year old into a sour mess!

I'm reporting from my porch here at Caneel, after bathing in repellant earlier I am not being bothered. However we were at Cinnamon from 4-5.30 and they were biting us all over…Hench why I bathed in it.
Trunk was not bad this morning….and Honeymoon and Scott were fine yesterday until late in the day.

Salomon was fine today, but we tried to not stop walking on our hike there. The skeeters are active at our villa but manageble with bug spay and coils. we need to finds some of those clip ons.

Jumbie was bug free today and was bug free two days ago. No problems, mon.

a second vote here for the off clip-on they are great. I also use the bug patches from st john spice, (thanks Ruth) this is a great combo, no more deet! yea.

This is our last day so we are off to the beach.

how long do thpse Off clip-ons last?? (i.e. how many refills will i need for 7 day trip??)

eric

As of a week ago, they were absent at Waterlemon and Trunk, but horrible at Cinnamon. Down by the surf it's not that bad, but get a few feet away and the breeze disappears and they'll be on you. They were bad on the Reef Bay Trail as well. I used 25% Deet and left STJ with 2 bites. Others in my group had a harder time, however.

Spent the day at Gibney today and there were only a few mosquitoes here and there.

Honeymoonwas awesome today, Francis was a bit buggy in the shade for us but fine in the water, Maho was ok 2 days ago but weare pretty bug tolerant.