When to avoid mosquitoes in Assateague?
 

My husband and I want to visit Assateague Island but hope to avoid the mosquitoes. I'd love to try a Berlin / Ocean City / Assateague long weekend in June, but I can't be sure that the stinging buggers won't be out in force by then. I don't mind them that much, but my husband gets terrible reactions to them.

Can anyone recommend a good time of year to visit, with this in mind?

The time of day and wind direction are a factor.An on shore breeze keeps them down. The WORST are the big black flies ..they really hurt when they bite and leave welts! I have had more than one picnic in the car at sunset!

I've been thinking about how to answer your question. We've been going to Assateague for many years, including dozens of camping trips. Mosquitos don't usually bother me, but they love my husband. In all our trips, I only remember him getting bitten badly once, and that was during the night when we camped at the national park. He probably wasn't wearing any repellent because it was a last-minute trip and we weren't very well prepared. I'm not saying there aren't any mosquitos on Assateague, just that it may not be a huge problem for you. (Biting flies are another story - I would turn and run in that case. I hate biting flies. But again, I've only encountered them once.)

If you're interested in seeing a (mostly) undeveloped Atlantic barrier island with it's marshes, island forests, and wild horses, please go. Berlin is a good choice for a base. If you find the conditions on Assateague aren't good, you can easily go the other direction into Ocean City.

September/early October is my favorite time to go to Assateague.

This is an interesting aside about marshlands and environmental disturbances: If you walk along the boardwalk on the bay side of the national park, you can see where canals in the bogs were cut in a short-lived attempt at developing the island in the 1960s. That was more than 40 years ago, and the cuts are still clearly obvious.

I appreciate your thoughtful replies. I think we'll chance it in a week or two. I'd prefer to travel in the fall, as Devonmcj suggests, but I'm hoping for a Williamsburg trip then.

We have always foun that early summer and fall are the best to avoid the little beasts. We have also found a natural mosquito repellent that you can sprinkle around your campsite and it really helps. Unfortunately, the name escapes me now, but I buy a container of it every year for home and camping from snow-pond.com. It's listed in the repellent area with Mosquito Barrier which we also love.