Page 10 - HOH

A9
LOCAL Tuesday 22 November 2022

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