How are the bugs right now?

[sasky]

We'll be on island next week and I am notoriously sensitive to bug bites. How are the Mosquitos and noseeums right now?

I'm also willing to accept any recommendations for bug repellants...even though they rarely work for me.

[StJohnbum]

Not bad at all but we are out on a cliff near Chocolate Hole and the breezes are so strong here bugs are not an issue. We ate at the Beach Bar last night and had a table on the beach and the bugs didn't bother us at all.

Enjoy your trip!

[WilliM]

Even on
Ajax Peak, the mosquitoes have been unbearable.

[JJShaw]

Super B complex and Garlic tablets works for me...I very rarely get a bite while Im there...and normally even at home if i dont take it...they eat me alive...take some spray as well...

[News of St. John]

The noseeums are pretty bad around dusk. I've notices them at Maho and today at the Soggy Dollar. During the morning and early afternoon, they have been fine. I haven't seen many mosquitos where I have been, fortunately,

[amanda]

My legs are COVERED in bug bites, as are my husbands arms!

[jimg20]

The bugs are very well, thank you. In fact, they are thriving. We returned home yesterday. The mosquitos were everywhere. We had good success while stationary (Beach Bar, a towel on the beach, BBQing) with the Off Clip Ons. They put out a cloud of repelant in about a 6 foot diameter circle. We would drop a couple on the towel when we got to the beach and go snorkeling. When we returned from the water, there were no mosquitos. We also does a good job in the car. It will not work while walking. Although I have not noticed this, it might have a little problem with windy conditions. It might disperse the cloud.

JIM

[Gigi]

We were there last week and the bugs were pretty bad. There was a lot of heavy rain during the night so I can only imagine that they are probably worse now. We swear by Ben's Insect repellent - we usually take a few boxes of the wipes - 30% Deet and a small bottle of the 100% Deet spray. The wipes usually work really great and are good for 8 hours but of course you will need to reapply after swimming. Naturapel wipes which are citronella based also work great and aren't as "chemically" as Ben's. We buy them either on Amazon or REI. We went to Waterlemon and when we stopped, they bombarded us but did not land on us.

[Pickle]

Mosquitoes are almost non-existent where we are staying past Coral Bay due to the constant strong breeze. We didn't think it was bad at Maho, Francis or the East End, either. We have seen a lot worse on many occasions in the past. The no-see-ums are a different story, though. They were pretty fierce at Francis yesterday - we quickly got into the water to snorkel and after snorkeling we immediately left. We were on the far end (right side) of the beach and some folks were comfortably sunbathing on the left side. Perhaps, no-see-ums were not existent on that side (?) – otherwise, those folks were either immune to the bugs or unaware of them.

I was told by local folks that the mosquitos were bad until about 6-7 days ago and now it's better.

[sloopjones]

they are pretty happy right now. lots of them.
remember that mosquitos favorite color is black.
if you want to attract them wear black.

sloop

[sbattle2507]

I was there last week and they ate us alive. My daughter had bites all on her face and body. The locals said they hadn't seen them this bad in a long time. We were are at the Fatty Crab and the bartender said they went through 6 bottles of deet in a week. Hopefully they will have died down by the time you get there.

[SandyPants]

Here now. They are bad in some spots at some times, no shows at others. For instance, bad at Francis at about 10:00 in the morning at the picnic table back in the woods, fine on the beach and fine at the picnic table by noon. Yesterday when we ate at Vie's it was buggy....wipes did little but a couple of us used the 100% DEET and cleared the whole table (of bugs, not people). Always OK up at the house a little east of Coral Bay. Have a couple of very bug sensitive folks along and they don't seem to be suffering too much, just some bites on the ankles.

[Capn Dan and Ruby]

Let's keep this update going!!! I am going to buy some more repellant.

[EagleRayLover]

I am a bug magnet- mosquitoes, nosee'ums, jack spaniards, and in identified flying beetle like things that's cared the you know what out of me! Now saying that- I have not had a bad problem with the Mosquitos recently. My new perfume of choice is this stuff called Repel- it is natural eucalyptus and lemon. Info have some Deet but decided I would save it for special occasions as I wanted to save some brain cells and didn't think I should use it daily! I get the Repel online at drugstore.com but I think some stores like Walmart and target might carry it!

[Coconuts]

We arrived at Plumeria this afternoon, and the French doors were open as the housekeeper cleaned and prepped the villa. We closed the doors, but there is a nice breeze up here, and while I noticed a couple of mosquito bites out on the deck at dusk, they were pretty easy to ignore, and that is over a period of a few hours. We headed down to Woody's for dinner, and no issues there. We haven't hit any beaches yet, but if I hadn't heard the horror tales of the other week, I would never have guessed that there was an issue.

Edit: We have all of the French doors wide open, and very few to no mosquitoes to speak of this morning. Either the bloom is behind us, or Gifft Hill is singularly immune.

All the best,

Kevin

P.S. If any forumites are on island and would like to see what we have been doing recently at Plumeria, PM me. Coconuts is booked, though.