Small town Simms

3.1.11

We have spent the last week in Long Island and have loved every second! It is another of the beautiful islands just south of the Exuma chain. It has been so nice and refreshing to get out of crowded Georgetown for the week.
After we left the Northern part of the island, we headed South about 12mile and tucked up close to shore right outside of Simms. We dinghied in and made a quick trip to the local mini mart. We met a charming man named Bill, who was born in Simms and then moved to the US to get his Bachelors Degree and to teach in the state schools. He was there for 20 years before coming back home to Simms, where he runs the mini mart out of the front of his house just for something to fill his days. He was wonderful to talk to and has been to many places in the US that even Brad and I have never been. We stayed and chatted with him for about 30 minutes before heading back out to the boat for sundowners. Despite Bill's charm, this sleepy town lacked anything to do so opted to head out the following day.
We finally made it down to Thompson Bay, the cruisers favorite spot. There is protection from almost all wind directions here and there is a local place, Long Island Breeze, that has a dinghy dock, free wifi and a pool. The grocery store is also conveniently located across the street. We were sad to have just missed the Farmer's market the day before.
We tuned in to the local cruisers net, run by the Breeze daily, and made reservations with a local restaurant that was doing a buffet with native cuisine. It sounded as if many of the cruisers in the Bay would be there and we were excited to meet more people. We took Koa for a walk to the beach and then headed to the grocery store to replenish our supplies. This store was like heaven on earth for us! I was huge and had a bit of everything. We even bought a set of Dominos. The locals play Dominos and backgammon here all the time and we are eager to learn so that we can join them next time! The owner of the grocer checked us out and then, when he learned we didn't know how to play, he shut down his checkout line and he and the bag boy taught us how to play! Right there in the store!!
Dinner was excellent and we met another cruiser couple who we really hit it off with. They have a large Catamaran that they have sailed partway around the world. They are so young at heart and so friendly and eager to share all their stories with us as well as invite us to their summer home in Canada! We had planned on renting a car to see the parts of the island that we couldn't see by boat and invited them to come along.
The following day we headed into Long Island Breeze for some R&R and to make use of their wifi. We had hoped that the bar and grill on the pool deck would be open, but for some reason it was not. We headed upstairs to the restaurant and sat at the bar. The place was gorgeous – overlooking the Bay, with beautiful woodwork and all the doors were open allowing a cool breeze to come through. We were greeted by the owner who got us our drinks and stood there staring at us while we perused the menu. When we asked for the pizza, he told us it would take 50minutes for the pizza oven to heat up and 10 minutes to cook the pizza. When we told him we would wait, he said that cooks wouldn't be able to do it. Hmmm....ok?! So we split a burger and sat there playing on the internet until it came. Several times we tried to strike up conversation with the owner, asking about rental cars and things to see in the area but were only rewarded with concise, terse, yes or no answers. After eating a burger that was less than great, we decided that although the atmosphere had the potential to be amazing the ownership was sadly lacking. Perhaps we should buy them out and run it ourselves...