It’s a beautiful sunny day, one in a streak of hot days designed for outdoors living and activities. You’ve been invited to the beach to partake, but you are feeling slightly less than great. Tired, weak, a tad dizzy and with a low-grade headache, you may be verging on irritable. You can’t help it, your mouth is saharan-levels of dry, which is enough to put anyone in a bad mood. You have a seemingly unquenchable thirst. What you don’t have is the will to get up and get on with your lovely life.

If this sounds familiar, you may be suffering from a terribly common and dastardly condition known as dehydration. As a frequently dehydrated sort myself, I have an abiding love for  electrolyte-rich coconut water. I also wake up on extremely hot days with a craving for watermelon juice that cannot be denied, which way be my body’s way of demanding the potassium, vitamin C and beta-carotene it comes loaded with.
One recent and particularly scorching day (the sort where the lack of air-conditioning seems like a form of cruel and unusual punishment), I found myself in urgent need of delicious hydration. Here is what I whipped up:

A quick note on preparation- this juice can be made in a blender or with a juicer. If you make it in a blender, add the watermelon slowly to avoid overflow. If made in a juicer, carry on.

One whole watermelon, or approximately 5 cups (chopped & seeded)

1 1/2 cups coconut water

2-5 Mint leaves, to taste

A pinch of sea salt (for sodium, an essential electrolyte)

If you are feeling something with a bit of a bit of kick, add about 1/2 inch of raw ginger to the mix.

Serve over ice, and in the wise words of a savvy ship’s captain I know, resume chilling.