I am amazed at what washes ashore every day on the Jaco beach here in Costa Rica. Of course, rocks lead the pack, but I’ve also become intrigued with the sea glass and sea tiles that find their way to our backyard beach.
A friend of ours here introduced me to sea glass – and I quickly became a fan. I take a cheap plastic food container with me every morning as I comb the beach. When I return home, the container is filled with some new little friends – sea glass and sea tiles.
I did some research on wikipedia and learned that sea glass is different from beach glass. Sea glass refers to broken pieces of glass that have been worn and frosted by the rocks and wave movement in salt water. Beach glass refers to broken pieces of glass that have been worn by rock and wave movement in fresh water. The salt and chemicals in salt water create the frostiness in the sea glass’s appearance. The amount of roundedness and frostiness indicate the probable length of time the glass has been in the water.
If a piece is well rounded and quite frosty, it has probably been in the water 20 to 40 years, sometimes as much as 100 years, with a rare find. It fascinates me that pieces of glass have been rolling around in the water for that many years before I see them and pick them up.
Here is part of this morning’s find. Some are quite old, being smooth and frosty. Others are “babes” in the sea glass world, having only been there a few years. Still others have been there quite a while – perhaps “teenagers” in sea glass years, maybe 5 – 20 years.
I’m no expert, but I sure am having fun learning about sea glass, and most of all, finding it every morning.
I’m having equal fun finding sea tiles – I’ll share about them in another post.
I’m off to add these piece to my official collection of keepers.
Stay tuned for the second installment – Sea Tiles.
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