Page 17 - HOH

Friday 9 december 2022 locAl
A10

Another Treasure of Aruba’s Beaches: Sea Glass!

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