Postcards from Mexico

'The Hut' in the far distance on the water horizon (Julia with hand on rail)

I'm not sure how better to get to know a beach than to live on the milky blue water itself for a day.  The Azul Fives offered a rentable wooden thatched hut for a day, we took the opportunity and sat hovering over the gently rolling watercolors for 8 hours.  The hut was equipped with speakers

for iPod music, a small bar, a dining table and two large 'sea-beds' for lazing.  The hut rose up from

the water at the far end around six feet and you could either jump directly off the platform, a bit beyond the extended buoys into ten feet of water, or slowly climb down a metal ladder into the water where a giant artificial reef sat at the bottom for the purpose of smoothing out the incoming waves.  The girls spent hours climbing the reef, which we came to call the 'whale' because of what it looked and felt like standing on it,

'The Whale' artificial reef in the water off the corner of the hut

and timing the crest of waves for a fun ride.  We might sit in the sun and read for twenty minutes, cook half of our bodies, spin, cook the other half, then walk to the diving platform, jump in and snorkel over the reef to cool off.  At noon, Gabriel, our attendant for the day, took our order from Sea Olive Restaurant, and came back with salmon, flank steak burgers, tuna, and Julia's

favorite resort guacamole (even the tomatoes and onion were good!). Carly by that time in the trip had had too much sun and was forced to wear a sunhat and shades wherever she went, including the 'whale,' but it probably saved her from

fully blistering.  Later Abby got a facial treatment at a beachside spa hut and Jan did, as she hoped for, a little bit of nothing.