Page 9 - HOH

Monday 3 october 2022 locAl
A10

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