Back in 2009, I saw a post on Jaunted that depicted Kauai’s Glass Beach in a way it hadn’t appeared in years – completely covered with beautiful multi-colored smooth glass. That used to be the case until about ten years ago. I remember in days gone by people regularly came with five gallon buckets to collect glass for use in their yards. In the years since it was dumped nearby and broken and rounded by the ocean, the glass has diminished greatly.
I wrote “Sorry Jaunted, this is the real Glass Beach,” which became one of our reader favorites. I hadn’t stopped by Glass Beach until last week, when I decided to have another look. Here’s what I found: GLASS.
The beach, as seen in the lead photo above, is mostly black sand. The amount of glass is very limited in comparison to years past. It varies with ocean conditions, since there was slightly more glass here than I found two years ago.
If you have the time and interest, however, it is possible to stop by to see or pick up a bit of beautiful colored glass. I focused on my favorite colors, being now rare blue, and the less rare green. My favorite, red, was virtually non-existent and was the most difficult to find. The common colors are clear/white and brown. The glass in my hand took about ten minutes to gather. If you want to stop by, check my earlier post which includes directions. If you can’t make it there, you can also find Hawaii sea glass being sold on EBay.
Another fun thing to do nearby Glass Beach is to hike along the ocean and a shoreline trail to a dark sand beach called, Wahi-awa. We’ll cover this hike in another post.
If you have been to Glass Beach, how much of the “sparkling litter” did you find?
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B. Diederich says
Oh my. I went to glass beach 3 times in June 2011. It all depends on the day…and you will find a glass-covered beach. One day was absolutely awesome with chunks everywhere–larger than an inch and a multitude of colors–clears with yellow, olive and pink. Didn’t find any red, but lots of aqua and blues… Another day seemed 15″ deep in small pebbles of glass–and it depends on what area. Just monitor what you pick up–save some for the next person!!!
ed says
Kinda makes one think that this beach should be the place where recyclers come to dump glass! If for no other reason than to get tourists to visit the area on the hopes that they can score some “Hawaiian beach glass”…you know…seeding the beach so to say?
Rob says
Thanks Ed!
Not only was glass dumped there, but many automobile and truck motors, transmissions and the like. They are now fused with the rocks. It is somewhat dangerous hiking up and down the hills overlooking the beach as sharp glass remains embedded in the hillside. I’m not sure about more dumping, but that’s another story.
Aloha,
Rob