Leinster Bay Mosquito War

Karen and I decided to make a side stop to Leinster Bay, on the North side of St. John, USVI. I think this is our favorite island so far. It is really rustic, with minimal population, and many historical sites still partially intact. This is the same island that we toured in the Jeep and visited Tektite.

Leinster Bay is a quiet bay and reminded us of times in the 5th wheel...you find your spot and then go to the US Park Service pay station and put your $ in an envelope. We spent the evening snorkling in the reef areas, seeing many fish, coral and sponges. Karen spotted a fish (google  stoplight parrotfish) hassling a small stingray (eagle ray) by hovering over it wherever the ray went. The ray would get ticked off and try to fly to another spot, but the fish kept right above it the whole time.

Later, we took the dinghy ashore and hiked up to the Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins. These were constructed in the late 1700's and early 1800's to process sugar cane (with slave labor) into molasses, sugar and rum. Along the way back to the dinghy, we were assaulted with millions of mosquitos. They didn't seem to mind the massive quantities of Deep Woods Off we had already put on. In fact, it may have been a "turn on" for them, as they seemed to relish the challenge of biting. They even followed us to our boat. We got the best of them by adding 2 more coats of Off. It seems the multiple chemical layers may have been too deep for their little snouts. I seem to have either developed an immunity to the little buggers, but Karen has a real inviting blood type. She was covered in war wounds. The sad thing is that she seldom feels the bite, just the aftermath. I killed at least 7 on her back on the return trip to the boat. Most of them had got a piece of her before they were crushed, leaving little blood spots all over her back...I didn't share that last part with her, though, because she was already miserable enough. She had read that Brewer's Yeast pills would help to make a person less appetizing, so she's been taking them. It appeared that the Leinster Bay mosquitos have no respect for those type of efforts.

I am "bite-free" Sandy