SIMPSON BAY-KARAKTER & MARY BOON
We took the day to drive around the island and one of our first stops was to check out Simpson Bay.
Now prior to this wonderful idea I had of our cruise friend Kia taking us around the island for the day, I had requested info from people here on the boards about what beach to go to. I knew the pickings were scarce because not many of the beaches are back to some-what normal. I was told that
Simpson Bay Beach was the place to head.
I knew that the cruise lines had excursions to Kim Shaw beach, located on Simpson Bay, but others suggested going to Karakter instead and said they were open.
So...here we are in between Karakter and Mary Boon. It was almost unrecognizable from the pictures I have seen online of both places.
The sand was gorgeous. The water was gorgeous.
But, the buildings were in turmoil and the place was pretty much deserted.
Here is Mary Boon's Beach Resort.
I did a search to see if I could find anything to show what it looked like right after the hurricane.
I did notice that a "Go Fund Me" account was opened for this place and they tried to raise $50k to rebuild, but only $250 was received. I'm thinking it was so devastated that maybe they have not rebuilt and possibly are not open. When going on their website, no matter what date I put in, there's no availability (even after they had a post stating they are giving discounts if you use the code "POSTIRMA" in the booking.
So sad.
But then again, maybe they are. I just noticed in some of my other pictures looking further down, there were some beach chairs.
Looking to the right, this is where Karakter Beach Bar is/was located.
I could not find anything at all that resembled anything I had seen of the place in the pictures.
There seemed to be a small building and some concrete pillars around that area.
They had some yellow beach chairs sat out. But previous pictures I had seen showed the restaurant was a bus and had a deck (not concrete) and just steps (wood) to the beach.
Although pictures show them changing their "roof" often (umbrella's to eat under), I still show nothing online to say what these concrete looking pillars are in the sand.
Here are some pictures (not mine and found on the web) of the place before the hurricane.
Maybe the bus was sitting on the concrete? Maybe the bus was lost in the hurricane?
We didn't stay very long here, even though Sakari was trying her best to "let's just swim!" It really didn't look like an appealing place to be at the moment and it was very deserted. So, we decided to move on as much as Sakari pouted.
So out we went....there was just too much I wanted to see on this beautiful, but yet destroyed, island.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Although this area is still recovering from the hurricane, the beach and water were very beautiful. I wouldn't mind returning some time in the future and staying longer. The only drawback is that the trees that used to line the back side of the beach are no longer there. Therefore, not much natural shade but they do have umbrella and chair rental.