St. Simons Island 2023 - Day 2: Beach

We slept in this morning, had a light breakfast at the house, then went for a stroll downtown.

As we walked toward the "pier village", a fire truck raced by, and we could smell smoke. Once we got closer, we discovered the source of excitement and odor: a car was on fire, just sitting in a parking lot.

The town was rather sleepy and peaceful; the only excitement was at the pier, where maybe a dozen people were fishing.

From the pier, we had a lovely view of the lighthouse.

All that walking around had worn us out, and we planned to be at the beach all afternoon, so we opportunistically grabbed some lunch at Barbara Jean's restaurant. After eating, we continued our walking tour of the downtown area.

Between the pier and the lighthouse is a large park, including several pools (that are only open seasonally), and this sculpture of a whale. On either side of the whale, there are signs telling you not to climb on the artwork. The other one (not pictured) said something like "take a photo with me, not on me".

The lighthouse is as picturesque as any I've ever seen (not that I've seen that many, but probably more than the average person has visited). We were planning to meet a local friend of Shannon's for a beach trip around 1 PM, so we didn't really have time to go inside and climb the 129 stairs to the top. Also, the only way to do that is to pay the museum admission, which we weren't interested in seeing. (That's more of a rainy-day activity.)

On the walk back to the house, we witnessed the completion of the car fire story, as the burned vehicle was hauled away.

I was scoping out food options for later in the week; this local gem is only open Monday to Friday, 11 AM to 2 PM.

Back at the house, we loaded up the van with the cooler and some beach chairs, then found the public parking area about a mile up the road where we would meet Shannon's friend. Her friend also brought a friend, and a pop-up tent.

Our local acquaintances felt that the beach was crowded, but there was still plenty of space for everyone. We spent a solid 4 hours at the beach, relaxing, chatting, reading, and people-watching. I went for a swim, but it was too cold for everyone else.

According to seatemperature.net:

"Today water temperature in Saint Simons is 63.1°F. This is cool bathing water, but acceptable for  short dives for physically fit and hardened people. Continuous exposure to such water for more than four hours can lead to severe hypothermia."

As the sun was setting, the gnats starting coming out, so we packed up and retreated to the van.

Very close to the house, we had taken note of a fried chicken restaurant simply called "Porch", which our new local friends recommended. After unpacking the van, we walked over there to grab some dinner before they closed at 8. I can't pass up chicken and waffles; it was quite good, for fast/casual dining.

There happened to be an ice cream place a few doors down, called Moo Cow, which we obviously had to try after dinner. We sat outside and enjoyed our dessert while listening to the (outdoor) live music at the Mexican restaurant next door.

Having adequately gorged ourselves, we felt that an after-dinner stroll was in order. They're not big on street lights here, so we walked back to the park/lighthouse area. There were a few people just finishing up a round of mini golf, which also closed at 8.

As had been the case this morning, the pier was the center of activity, and also the only place that was well-lit, aside from the lighthouse itself and a few open stores on the main commercial street.

There were a lot more people catching fish tonight than we saw this morning, so I guess if you want to fish from this pier, do so under cover of darkness.

Tomorrow's weather looks as perfect as today was, so we'll probably either go kayaking or rent some bikes, possibly over on Jekyll Island.