Mosquitos, oh my

Muhaha · Post by **Muhaha** » Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:48 pm

We just returned from lovely STJ. We stayed at an OUTSTANDING villa on Francis Bay and enjoyed ourselves tremendously, for the first half of our trip...

What got us were the mosquitos. I'm no wimp on bugs after my army days, and camping trips in Alaska, but holy cow...starting around Sunday last week we couldn't go outside on our balcony. Even a trip to the car was iffy, by the time all of the kids piled in, there would be at least 20 skeeters in the car! I'm not exaggerating.

We tried to go over to Maho campground for breakfast, but the mosquitos were INSANE there. The campers all looked miserable.

Is this normal for STJ? We loved the place and want to come back next year, but not if we are on the buffet menu!

Trip report coming soon...

CindyM · Post by **CindyM** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:34 am

Oh S@#@!!! We are staying in an outstanding villa near Francis Bay this upcoming week and have been worried about the skeeters~hopefully they will have calmed down a bit by the time we get there! Muhaha, were they a problem everywhere on the island this past week?

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:34 am

The skeeters get like that about a week after a good rain, unfortunately you just hit it at the ... um.. right time.

We hit a terrible "mosquito storm" in 2007, and I totally understand what you're saying about not being able to sit on your deck and having 20 skeeters get into the car with you. We got a zapper racquet from Love City Mini Mart (St. John Spice also carries them) and took it in the car with us. I drove and my husband zapped! It worked really good!

stjohnjulie · Post by **stjohnjulie** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 5:50 am

Yes, the skeeters have been bad. But they are not always like this. Problem is, it's hard to predict when they will be bad other than counting out 10 days after a lot of rain, which won't do you much good when planning your trip. I would have to say the last several days were the worst we've had all season. Sorry you had to be here for part of it!!!

seagrape · Post by **seagrape** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 7:29 am

It all depends where you are, I guess. Not too bad up here on Seagrape Hill. I close the windows, RAID the porch, and then it's just fine. They'll probably die off in the next few days.

Muhaha · Post by **Muhaha** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:06 am

California Girl wrote:The skeeters get like that about a week after a good rain, unfortunately you just hit it at the ... um.. right time.

We hit a terrible "mosquito storm" in 2007, and I totally understand what you're saying about not being able to sit on your deck and having 20 skeeters get into the car with you. We got a zapper racquet from Love City Mini Mart (St. John Spice also carries them) and took it in the car with us. I drove and my husband zapped! It worked really good!

Kinda figured it was blind luck. We hardly saw a single skeeter for the first several days, then - boom!

Cindy - I didn't mean to scare ya. We did arrive after the hardest rains of the year and I'm sure they'll die off. If you are staying at Sunnyledge - you're going to love it! I'll be posting a trip report tomorrow, once I get photos together.

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:51 am

As others have mentioned, they will bloom after there's been a bit of a dry spell and then rain. Timing is everything.

It's difficult to cope when this happens, but Ben's bug spray helps.

petepie · Post by **petepie** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:13 am

That happened to us last year in May 09. Mosquitoes like I'd never seen before. We would open the car doors and get at least 20-30 in the car. The walk from Salt Pond to the car was the worst. We found that even though they were bad, they were much worse in certain areas -- walk from salt pond, in the tree line by cinnamon and maho beaches. Not so bad high up (luckily our house was high up), and not so bad on Francis or Hawksnest beach. I think we just hit the bloom at the worst time too -- from what I understand, they die off within a week or two after the peak.

seagrape · Post by **seagrape** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 3:34 pm

Okay, I stand corrected! We went to a VERY crowded Francis today and the skeets were biting right there in the hot sun. They were also trying to bite our faces in the pool. Hopefully they'll chill pretty soon!

Lovermont · Post by **Lovermont** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 5:32 pm

petepie wrote:That happened to us last year in May 09.

I was on island during that period. Have the t-shirt. Feel your pain.

Lovermont

petepie · Post by **petepie** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 5:56 pm

Lovermont, that was our 3rd trip to St. John and the first where we had rainy weather and the mosquito problem. If I hadn't been twice before (so knew that it could be much better), I don't know if I would want to go back. We had one set of newbies with us and we all just kept telling them "it's really not like this all the time...." They had a good time anyway, but the rain and the mosquitoes definitely made for a more difficult vacation!

stjohnjulie · Post by **stjohnjulie** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 6:04 am

May of 2009 was horrendous! That was one of the worst times I can remember. We had a long drought before that first big rain in May and there was no wind to blow them away. I remember staying inside for quite a bit after that one. On Gifft Hill, where I live, the skeeters have chilled out, but the last 5 nights down at kids village at the National Park have been terrible. I had to break down and rub some bug spray in my hair to keep them off my face. Lots of kids scratching ankles but having WAAAY too much fun to let it stop them!

ToonMann · Post by **ToonMann** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 6:27 am

So if we wind up with a mosquito attack, what's the best defense? DEET? ThermaCell? SuperBands? Ben's Bug Spray?

And is there a separate defense for NoSeeUms? Skin-So-Soft, maybe?

My lovely wife is pure mosquito bait and I want to come to STJ as prepared as possible.

Thanks.

TM

Tracy in WI · Post by **Tracy in WI** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 9:11 am

We were there for the end of the rain and so happy that the bugs did not appear for us to notice until Thursday of last week. We went to hike the Reef Bay Trail and I ended up with bites in places I didn't know they would bite! They were also attacking at Hawksnest and Cinnamon.

Off (with about 25% DEET) worked wonders for us and I am a bug magnet! I might get one of those zappers for the car next time too.

For those heading down soon, I wish you a bug free trip.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:59 am

Tracy in WI wrote:Off (with about 25% DEET) worked wonders for us and I am a bug magnet! I might get one of those zappers for the car next time too.

For those heading down soon, I wish you a bug free trip.

We got home last night and my son had bites on top of bites, so bad that we coated ourselves head to toe in that 25% deet Off. (Something I don't normally do but it works) Caneel was spraying the grounds at least once a day so it was tolerable there.

The swarms were epic at Annaberg. The parking lot was like a horror movie, skeeters trying to crawl in our ears....

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Mosquitos, oh my

Mosquitos, oh my

mosquitos