Page 14 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 14
A14 LOCAL
Monday 21 august 2017
Another Treasure of Aruba’s Beaches: Sea Glass!
ARASHI - It is hard to imag- It’s hard to believe the
ine this happening today, short-sighted mistakes we
but years ago people were making that could
dumped all kinds of refuse have potentially ruined
straight into the ocean, in- these beautiful beaches.
cluding old cars, and their But thanks to natural pro-
household garbage, which cesses, the ocean trans-
of course included lots of formed the trash into the
glass. sea glass.
Each colored gem on the
Over the next 30 years the beach has its own story.
pounding waves cleaned The ruby red glass stones
the beach, by breaking are typically from old car
down everything but glass tail-lights.
and pottery. Then, the sapphire rocks
The pounding waves are the remnants of bro-
washed the trash up and ken apothecary bottles.
down, back and forth. The most common and
Tons of polished, broken the easiest to find are the
glass pieces were created brown (Amstel & Polar
by the pounding surf. beer), green (Heineken
These smoothened, col- you can find these beauti- miles-long strip on white its way to the ocean and & Balashi beer) and clear
ored glass particles then ful and colorful pieces on sand between the famous tumbles around in the wa- glass which are the soft
settled along the sea shore the north shore beaches “Natural Bridge” and the
in millions, and that is why of Aruba. Especially on the huge red anchor close to
“Grapefield” beach you
will be able to find your
own pieces of sea glass, as
well as millions of beautiful-
ly polished sea stones.
The sea glass that was cre-
ated is the product of a
very long and interesting
process.
It can take anywhere from
10-to-30 years to make sea
glass. The name for any
piece of glass that finds
ter long enough is “Sea much loved “soft drink”
glass.” bottles.
The colorful pieces of glass If you like to see the sea
are being used for decora- glass for yourself, and be
tion, handcrafts and jew- in awe of the power of na-
elry! ture, rent a car or jeep and
Once glass makes its way go explore our deserted
into the ocean, the glass is beaches on the north side
broken up into shards and is of the island. Make it a fun
tumbled around in the wa- family day!
ter, where sand and other Even if we didn’t mean to
rocks act like sandpaper to pollute the Beaches how
smooth out its rough edges. we did, it is inspiring to see
Sometimes as the sea glass just how the earth can cor-
is passed through fire, it be- rect our mistakes.
comes fire glass, the rarest Funny, how trash can
of sea glass with certain change into treasures!
inclusions, just like precious Everybody knows that you
gems. are not allowed to take
For years, the water beat local shells home, but the
against the different kinds people working at the air-
of trash being dumped. port have no problem you
Glass, household applianc- taking sea glass home.
es and even motor parts A few of those pieces make
were discarded on the great souvenirs. You can
beach. place them in a wine glass
The waves and weather or large bottle for decora-
conditions wore down the tion and every time you
overwhelming amount of look at it a smile will light up
garbage in the water, cre- your face thinking back of
ating millions of beautiful your unforgettable Aruba
smooth rocks. vacation!q
