Caribbean mosquitos | The Blacktip Times

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January 24, 2025 · 8:00 am

Blacktip Island To Celebrate Mosquito Day Saturday

Blacktip Island residents will embrace their native mosquitos Saturday at the Caribbean island’s inaugural Mosquito Days festival. (photo courtesy of Muhammed Mahdi Karim)

Blacktip Island officials announced this week the inaugural Blacktip Mosquito Day festival will begin at dawn Saturday to celebrate the insects’ prominent place in the small Caribbean community.

“With the rainy season on us, and the mosquito population booming, we decided if we can’t beat ‘em, we might as well celebrate ‘em,” de facto island mayor Jack Cobia said. “They’re an integral part of life here, after all, no matter how bothersome they are. There’s a few residents I could say the same about, frankly.

“The idea’s to make the best of things and keep everyone’s spirits up,” Cobia said. “We’re trying to promote mosquito awareness in a good way. Getting people using bug spray and wearing long sleeves. Best way to do that’s to get ‘em good and welted up all over.”

Many locals were looking forward to the festivities.

“The mosquito gathering contest’ll be the highlight for me,” Catalina Luxfer said. “There’s prizes for the most caught and the biggest, and I’m prepped for both. “There’s mozzies on this island the size of your thumb. And they’ll carry you back in the bush where the big ones can get you.”

Health officials, however, questioned the event’s appropriateness.

“This is the height of insanity,” island nurse Marissa Graysby said. “With the cases of dengue and zika viruses in the region, it creates a potential public health disaster. We tried to shut the festival down, but word spread too quickly and now all the island’s looking forward to it.

“One of the worst things people can do in the tropics is get mosquito bit,” Graysby said. “What the hell are Jack and them thinking? They’ve heard of malaria, right? And I’m down to one tube of hydrocortisone.”

Local environmentalists embraced the festival.

“These creatures are apex parasites, and should be admired,” island ecologist Lefty Wright said. “They’re absolutely magnificent. How could anyone think of wanting to kill them. It’s right that the island’s population will embrace them.

“And as for worries about disease control, there’ll be free insect repellent, and DEET spraying from the misters the resorts use to keep guests cool,” Wright said. “You’ll have to make sure you cover your drink. And any food you have. But if no one gets bit, you can’t argue with success.”

The festival will also feature a mosquito costume contest, a naked ‘running of the ‘skeeters’ past the island’s main resorts, mosquito-themed food and drink, plus music by local bands Effing Zeagles, The Social Morays and Gaslighting Shitweasels.

“We expect folks to continue drinking on into the night,” Cobia said. “Mainly to dull the pain of itching.”

Blacktip Island Braces For The Running Of The Skeeters

Dozens of nude Blacktip Island residents will brave swarms of voracious mosquitos at dusk Saturday in the small Caribbean island’s annual Running of the Skeeters, celebrating summer on the island. (photo courtesy of James Gathany)

Blacktip Island residents this week stocked up on running shoes and cortisone cream in preparation for Saturday’s 23^rd annual Running of the Skeeters, celebrating the height of summer, when dozens of residents will sprint nude down a jungle trail at dusk when the island’s mosquitos swarm the thickest.

“Started years ago as a drunken dare, and it’s grown every year since,” RotS organizer Wade Soote said. “The aim is to run from the west coast road, down an overgrown path through the mangroves 100 yards to the beach, then race back out, wearing only shoes or boots.
“It’s become a rite of passage for locals, a way to surrender yourself to the island, and for the island to accept you,” Soote said. “Everybody does it at least once. Some folks do it every year. It’s like a blood sacrifice to the island gods.”

Runners echoes that sentiment.

“It tests your fortitude. Your resolve to live here,” Corie Anders said. “Anybody can come to Blacktip and sit in the air conditioning. Or just go out midday, when the mozzies aren’t feeding. But to be a real Blacktipper, you need to get well-bitten, like our pre-air con ancestors did.

“The secret’s to keep moving—they don’t bite you too much until you stop, usually on the beach or at the road,” Anders said. “Hydrate beforehand and wear good running shoes – you fall, they’ll suck you dry, and no one will stop to help you.”

Some residents voiced concerns about the event.

“They make ‘No Malaria, No Worries’ t-shirts for the runners, to make light of it,” Vera Cuda said. “But that’s ingenuous, at best. Blacktip may not have malaria, but the region has dengue, yellow fever, zika, chikungunya and elephantiasis circulating all around us. It’s utterly irresponsible to purposely get bitten by mosquitos and potentially spread those deadly diseases.”

Island health authorities are prepared for the uptick in bites.

“I’ll be ready at the clinic with cortisone, Benadryl and epi-pens,” island nurse Marissa Graysby said. “And most of the bars will be offering discounted rum for all runners, to help ease the pain. I won’t be on site, of course. If people want to get bug bit, that’s their affair. I’ll be comfortable inside away from the mosquitos.”

Most runners brushed aside concerns.

“Getting bit 80, 100 times, it helps build your immunity to mosquito saliva and to whatever viruses they carry,” Jack Cobia said. “Sure, you feel like a human pincushion, but after the first few minutes, you start to kind of like it.”

“We encourage first-time runners, and’ll give them any pointers we can,” Cobia said. “And nobody’s ogling each other—folks’re running too fast, and swatting too wildly. And it’s not cheating to rub DEET over your sensitive parts.”