USVI-On-Line

Hey Jan and Mike,

We just got back from St. John on April 29. There were 8 of us. 4 got ate alive with bites while the rest of us had none! Those that never got bit didn't use any bug repelant, while those that did use it, got bit. Can't figure this out.

Have a wonderful vacation and don't worry about the bugs and bites!

Denise

Left STJ May 12. Before we left, I took every can of "OFF Deep Woods" we had (3 cans), a "Skintastic Aloe" as well as bought 3 BullFrog Mosquito Coast with Sunscreen and Deet. I had "OFF" on me head-to-toe every second. It made my skin look nice and shiny. The Bull Frog seemed to work well, too. It seemed to work for me and I am usually dinner for mosquitos. My husband and the rest of our group is from the E/SE Arkansas (a lot of rice farming in these areas) and they all seem to be immune to bugs, but my husband did have some bites when we left. He didn't use much spray. At the airport I saw people covered in bites. They looked miserable. Hope the Deet works for you guys.

Both Rick and I took copious amounts of vitamin B for the month preceeding our trip and we kept ourselves sprayed with Repel or Off and we still got eaten alive! Hot tip: Go to St. John Spice or Love City Mini Mart and get a hand-held bug zapper. It looks like a small yellow tennis racquet and takes 2 AA batteries. Might be the best thing we bought on our whole trip! We always took it in the car with us, because by the time we opened the car doors and got in and got the doors closed we usually had 10 - 15 skeeters in the car with us. Let me tell you, there was NOTHING BETTER than that zapper in the car! I love the smell of burning bugs in the morning. PU! (hee, hee!)

CG, there was a tennis racket bug killer in our villa. No batteries. We didn't take the time to put any in it. I wish we would have known how much fun it was. Could you really smell the bugs cooking? Sounds satisfying.

Margo, do you think the racket would have taken care of this?

This lil' fellow was on the veranda outside the kitchen door. Wonton's husband bravely and gently kicked it back into nature.

Kellyanna I am about to have heart failure just looking at that critter. Or should I just call it a monster. They would have heard my scream all the way up to Ajax.

It was really big! Forgot to mention Wonton's husband had flip-flops on when he kicked it! We had been walking around barefoot the whole time! Didn't see it until Thurs. or Fri.

Ooh Ooh, I want a racket. That sounds like fun. Bugs love me so that would be some sweet justice- zap! Gotcha sucker

I hope I never see a scorpian. Holy crap

Kellyanna -- that creature is the stuff of nightmares! I would not be happy if I saw one of those. Guess I'll make the kids wear shoes everywhere!

California Girl, I have copied your info about the bug zapper into my (growing) list of things to get in STJ!

I keep reading on other forums that the bugs have not been that bad in the BVI... yet they have had lots of rain too. But everyone is talking about the bugs in the USVI. I wonder why so many more there?

California Girl - I see they sell a "Charcoal Companion Amazing Bug Zapper" (yellow tennis raquet) on amazon.com for $12.99. Think I'll buy one for our upcoming trip! Can you tell me how big it is? I didn't see any dimensions listed.

Oh, wait amazon.com has a "Raquet Zapper" too... looks the same but is $7.99.

Oh, and I did see the dimensions... looks to be about 20" x 8" (the other is 18" x 7").

They have those racket bug zappers at Bed Bath and Beyond around here. They are great-the first villa we rented had one and it became a sport to see how may mosquitos we could zap.

As to the scorpion...yikes Kellyanna! Was it outside? The only scorpion I've ever seen on St. John was drowned in the garden shower of our villa after a strong rain. If I saw a live scorpion I would probably have to run away from it.