Larry wrote:

Harlan Lachman wrote in news:hlachman-
:

and
mosquitos belie my customary pacifism

Follow Google Earth to 29-05-25.90N by 80-56-24.20W near Ponce Inlet,
Florida, USA. We picked up the Amel Sharki ketch, with no air
conditioning, bared by the previous owner, and motored North up the ICW
to this Marina in "Mosquito Bay". Cap'n Geoffrey wanted to stop there
because there's a big party at the bar right alongside the gas dock with
live music that's famous....and, of course, it's his boat..(c;

Well, the party WAS great fun and I'd never been at a dock where so many
women came by to look us over, just tying the ketch up to a dock,
before....uncanny.

BUT, after the band quit and the bar emptied, Mosquito Bay came into its
namesake! Temperature was a humid and balmy 85 outside, 95 in the boat
with all the hatches open, including the open hatch to the covered
cockpit. I did have a screen of sorts that pushed up into the hatch over
the V-berth I was sweating into on top of my protective bag I always
carry on other people's boats.

Then the FLORIDA MOSQUITO SQUADRONS arrived. Being bitten to death, I
was awakened about 1AM, itching like crazy! I clicked on the light and
COULDN'T SEE THE HATCH BECAUSE THE MOSQUITOES THAT HAD ALREADY EATEN US
HAD CLOGGED THE SCREEN TRYING TO GET....__OUT__!! The forward cabin was
FULL of HUGE mosquitos...real monsters!

A slight breeze was blowing across the bay, so I figured I might as well
get dressed and go topside to get away from the squadron and its human
dinner. I laid on the deck in the breeze and the mosquitoes couldn't
overcome the little breeze.....well, until IT died around 2:45AM. Then,
Larry was Lunch again! I headed up the dock to the head and met the
marina security guard having coffee in the bar. He took pity on me after
hearing my story of the new boat with NO REPELLANT ABOARD and gave me a
spray can of Cutter so I could make it to the head to inspect the damage.
When I came out, he offered to let me into the captain's lounge, which
was locked, and I slept in a chair slumped over a table the rest of the
night.

HOW AWFUL IT WAS!...Truly legendary....I had welts for a week swelled up.

One of the other guys I was with, ARchie, crawled into his sleeping bag
in 95F heat and slept through the night, snoring like a freight train as
usual. I guess their little needles couldn't get through the
padding.....

Maybe the next time in addition to your sleeping bag you need to take
some mosquito netting.

We've got screens on our ports, and I've seen people that made a
mosquito/no-seeum guard to go over the companionway - just a length of
gauze type material with weights around the edge to keep it against
the deck or sides of the hatch.

PS - they put us on the gas dock at Frenchman's Marina, and no-seeums
live under that dock. Little bugs are worse than big bugs because
they can get through regular screening.