Please read and share. There is room on this soapbox for all of us. This article was prompted by our last visit to the beach. Some of you may have seen the ‘sea glass bounty’ photos I posted a few weeks ago. For those who don’t know, ‘sea glass’ is weathered glass that washes up onto the beach. The waves and sand have naturally buffed them into these little satin finished beautiful ‘stones’. They come in many colors, some more rare than others, and it always feels like a treasure when you find one.
We took Chuck over to Cayucos beach to run and play. It’s our dog’s all time favorite place. As we walked up and down the beach I was thrilled to find several pieces of sea glass. It was like I had hit some kind of maritime jackpot. It also seemed like maybe there were a few other people out there looking for these little treasures as well but I didn’t really give it much thought.
The next day our 15yr old dog was a little sore so we left him at home while we went back down to the beach. On the car ride there, I saw for the second time, a billboard advertising the Cayucos Sea Glass Festival, which I believe was last weekend (March 12th?). I started wondering if some how the sudden arrival of so much sea glass and the festival were linked. I didn’t think it was possible but it just seemed like too much of a coinkydink.
When we got down to the beach it was obvious that more people were there specifically to look for the glass. Among all the beautiful sanded pieces were the occasional sharp and jagged ones. I picked those up because I mean, hey, it’s freaking sharp glass and dogs, kids and surfers run barefoot on this beach everyday. I found a big bag of sea glass that day. Because there was so much and because of all the sharp pieces, Sam and I started discusing the idea that maybe the ocean had been ‘seeded’ with sea glass for the festival. Still the idea seemed absurd. So I went happily back to the house with my sack of ocean booty.
You can see the mix of sharp and sanded pieces in this last photo. When we got to the house I decided to turn to the interweb for some answers regarding this silly ‘seeding’ notion we had. I was shocked and disturbed at what I found. ‘Seeding’ sea glass is actually a thing. Not only a ‘thing’ but a highly polarized topic. You are either stupidly for it; or adamantly and rightfully against it. Can you tell which side I am on? It’s very subtle but it’s there.
So what this means is, there are people out there using boats or whatever, and DUMPING BROKEN GLASS IN OUR OCEAN!! Yes! All capital letters means I’m yelling it! I was appalled. I couldn’t believe the posts and forums out there on this topic. Like I said, very polarized. Everything from “More blue glass please!, More blue! More blue!” to “Stop polluting our oceans with your garbage (ie; broken glass bottles). It is still so hard to wrap my head around someone taking the time to smash up all their Budweiser bottles, then bag them up, take them to the beach, and feel OK (or even good) about dumping them in the water. Seriously, in no way or form does that even sound remotely like a good idea. Some folks even feel like they are doing everyone a favor. Otherwise there ‘wouldn’t be any sea glass for people to find’. Oh yeah and then there is this genius suggestion, “If you find a piece that still has sharp edges, just let it be. It’s not ‘cooked’ yet. Leave it for someone to find in the future.” I am not kidding about these comments. A quick search for ‘seeding sea glass’ on the web will back this up.
So here is a little message to anyone who thinks this is cool. “Hey Asshole! Babies and dogs run on this beach all day, everyday. Please quit scattering broken glass all over it.” Here are a few photos of the sharp broken pieces of glass. It’s hard to tell but they are dangerous. The ones on the beach were taken with my phone so they don’t do them justice, but it is where I found them. We also saw a large number of dead sea birds on the beach. From eating broken glass no doubt.
My friend Crystal lives near this beach. She has three kids that run and play here. I can’t imagine she is very happy about this practice. So I am guessing assholes really ramped up their ‘seeding’ activities during last week’s festival. I mean what the hell? Is the Cayucos Chamber of Commerce turning a blind eye to make sure ‘conditions’ are favorable during the festival? Are they secretly having some jerk off dump broken glass just off shore? How far off the beach do they dump it? How far ahead of time do they need to get it in the water so it’s ready for the festival? Is it all a guessing game or do they know from trial and error? I still can not get my head around this. Another big deal on the ‘seeding’ forums was how to tell real sea glass from manufactured stuff. I guess some people use a rock tumbler to to transform broken glass into ‘sea glass’. Some folks then make jewelry or trinkets with the homemade sea glass but sell it as the kind one finds by happenstance on a friendly beach somewhere. Well here is my take on that (did you seriously think I wouldn’t give you my two cents?). It should ALL be manufactured sea glass! Well except for the true, non-intentionally placed. First, I don’t think anyone could tell the difference anyway. Second, duh, it keeps dangerous shards of glass off the beaches. Third, that one asshole on the forum can make as much Gdamn blue sea glass as they want.
I went back to the beach a third time before we headed back to Sangerlah. I picked up all the sea glass I could find and all the ‘uncooked’ sharp as hell pieces. As happy as I was to find a whole bag of pretty sea stones, it was tarnished by the picture in my mind of someone on a boat tossing a bag of broken glass in the waves. I made these pretty hurricane vases with them but I still get a little pissed every time I look at them.
I had to add a whole new category to our site called ‘Soap Box’ because this really didn’t fit into any other category. I’m sure there will be more articles that I will need to address from atop my soap box. As for the title of this article, I was always getting sucked into reading stupid stories on Facebook that said something like; “They were at the beach, you won’t believe what happened next”. I thought I would give it a try to see if more people would read my article. Hehehe did it work? So how do you guys feel about this sea glass issue? Let me know it the comments below.
Take it simple and safe—- Sam and Stacey
