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local Friday 21 July 2023
Another Treasure of Aruba’s Beaches: Sea Glass!
NOORD - It is hard to imag-
ine this happening today,
but years ago people
dumped all kinds of refuse
straight into the ocean,
including old cars, and
their household garbage,
which of course included
lots of glass. Over the next
30 years the pounding
waves cleaned the beach,
by breaking down every-
thing but glass and pot-
tery. The pounding waves
washed the trash up and
down, back and forth. Tons
of polished, broken glass
pieces were created by
the pounding surf. These
smoothened, colored glass formed the trash into the
particles then settled along sea glass.
the sea shore in millions, Each colored gem on the
and that is why you can beach has its own story.
find these beautiful and
colorful pieces on the north The ruby red glass stones
shore beaches of Aruba. are typically from old car
tail-lights.
Especially on the strip on
white sand between the fa- Then, the sapphire rocks
mous Natural Bridge” and are the remnants of bro-
the huge red anchor close ken apothecary bottles.
to “Grapefield” beach you The most common and
will be able to find your own the easiest to find are the
pieces of sea glass. The sea brown (Amstel & Polar
glass that was created is beer), green (Heineken
the product of a very long & Balashi beer) and clear
and interesting process. It glass which are the soft
can take anywhere from much loved “soft drink”
10 to 30 years to make sea bottles.
glass. The name for any
piece of glass that finds its If you like to see the sea
way to the ocean and tum- glass for yourself, and be
bles around in the water in awe of the power of na-
long enough is “Sea glass. ter, where sand and other For years, the water beat water, creating millions of ture, rent a car or jeep and
rocks act like sandpaper to against the different kinds beautiful smooth rocks. go explore our deserted
The colorful pieces of glass smooth out its rough edges. of trash being dumped. beaches on the north side
are being used for decora- Sometimes as the sea glass Glass, household appli- It’s hard to believe the of the island. Make it a fun
tion, handcrafts and jew- is passed through fire, it be- ances and even motor short-sighted mistakes we family day!
elry! comes fire glass, the rarest parts were discarded on were making that could Even if we didn’t mean to
Once glass makes its way of sea glass with certain the beach. The waves and have potentially ruined pollute the Beaches how
into the ocean, the glass is inclusions, just like precious weather conditions wore these beautiful beaches. we did, it is inspiring to see
broken up into shards and is gems. down the overwhelming But thanks to natural pro- just how the earth can cor-
tumbled around in the wa- amount of garbage in the cesses, the ocean trans- rect our mistakes.
Funny, how trash can
change into treasures!
Everybody knows that you
are not allowed to take
local shells home, but the
people working at the air-
port have no problem you
taking sea glass home. A
few of those pieces make
great souvenirs. You can
place them in a wine glass
or large bottle for decora-
tion and every time you
look at it a smile will light up
your face thinking back of
your unforgettable Aruba
vacation! q
