Mary's Boon and Karachter are each interesting properties, and we've enjoyed both over the years, staying as a hotel guest and a frequent dinner guest under the current returned owners, as well as having been Boonies under both sets of owners, and we have also done dinner under the current restaurant management but only once since their lunch and dinner menus were basically the same.
At the same time, when Jorritt first opened Karakter and it became THE GO TO spot on Simpson Bay Beach, it was one of our favorite island beach days. Over the past couple of years it's lost some of its appeal to us. It's still a fun place but not knowing about its current problems, the number of chair set-ups seems to have increased and gotten closer, and the music seems louder so we started going back to the Boon - very good lunches with a more extensive menu and fewer people to share the beach with. Perhaps not for everyone but of the two, we've come to prefer our days there, though back in December we spent several says at El Zafiro and even with the very limited menu at the time, we really liked it, too.
With regard to the current problems at Karakter, I hope their issues are quickly resolved and they're able to reopen as the new and improved version so we can all enjoy the places we most enjoy, whatever they are. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />