Dzul Ha

The beach at Dzul Ha

I still remember what it felt like two years ago. My wife was calling out from the water near the shore. She sounded scared. She couldn’t seem to get out of the water. I thought she must have fallen and maybe hurt her leg because she wasn’t trying to stand up. I remember when I first saw the steel rod that had slipped under her flipper and stabbed her foot. I remember the rusty hole it left behind and a little blood, but not enough.

Two years later, we were standing in the water off the same beach. The specific area where Shelly was injured was roped off for some reason. There were some stairs carved out of the rock nearby that would serve as the entry point into the water.

The truth is that a lot had changed in those two years. The place was now called “The Money Bar” instead of its former, more authentic-sounding name “Dzul Ha.” Next to the bar and the beach chairs, they were building a large structure with a palapa roof. There was a massage area and more tables than I remember. Across the street, the jungle had been cut down and there was a new building, the function of which wasn’t obvious yet. The fact that there were bathrooms in this new building was an improvement from last time (don’t forget to leave a tip)

All of us went to bed early the night before, so we were up before 7:00. The maid Rosie comes at about 8:30 and we wanted to be up and moving before she got there. Besides, I was hungry.

Breakfast was at Rockin’ Java Caribbean café. The waiter flirted with Jillian for a while and took our order. He spoke English well and the food was great. This place has a really nice location right on the water front. You can watch the marines and sailors drill in the morning in the lot between the restaurant and the Caribbean Sea. Every day, there was at least one massive cruise ship in view as well. These boats rival aircraft carriers in overall displacement. The size of them is stunning.

We drove past our exit on the way to Dzul Ha and ended up driving well past the last beach club on the west shore. Eventually, we asked for directions and made our way to the right spot.

The water was fantastic. There were a lot of fish out there and there was a new project underway to supplement the reef with some large, bell-shaped objects with holes in them. These items were designed to seed coral growth and it looked as if they might be working. The fish seemed to love them as well.

We wound up spending about $100 on $7.00 margaritas plus beer and snacks today, but the salsa was great and the drinks were cold. We did a lot of swimming and both the girls got a little sunburned. I enjoyed watching Shell and the kids floating out there. They looked happy in the perfect blue water with the fish all around.

The water was perfect

We had dinner that night at a place called Café Dennis near the main plaza in San Miguel. We don’t really like all the barkers standing outside trying to get us to come into their restaurants. The hard sell is in full force downtown.

I ordered a dish called Pollo Pibil. It was half a chicken baked in a banana leaf with some herbs and spices in a tomato sauce. It tasted stew-like with the chicken being very tender. My vegetarianism had disappeared within the first 3 hours of being on the island. There really seemed to be few options for the non-meat eater. At least I figured I was getting an education by ordering something traditional.

By the end of the day, the girls were feeling a little overheated. Their burns were now looking more prominent and beginning to sting. We had brought along several tubes of sun block, most of it spf 30. We used a lot of the stuff today, but it apparently wasn’t enough. I’m not sure of the implications of this, but it looks like we have to be very careful if we don't want to turn to charcoal briquettes.