Cayucos Sea Glass Festival
The Cayucos Sea Glass Festival and Red Sea Glass
To tell the truth, for me sea glass was at the outermost periphery of things in which I might be interested. That is, it was until last month.
In my capacity as publisher of this website, I have taken upon myself the task of visiting some of the many Central California events that take place nearly every weekend. Yes, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it (tongue firmly planted in cheek).
So, last month Cayucos hosted its annual Sea Glass Festival and Marti and I attended.
At the very least, it would be a trip to one of our favorite beach cities if the festival was boring.
Interestingly, collecting sea glass is a hobby with world-wide popularity. And after looking through all the offerings from the different vendors, I now can see why collecting sea glass is so popular.
What I find most interesting about sea glass is that such nasty stuff as broken glass can be transformed into such beautiful pieces.
Before the wide-spread prohibitions against glass containers on beaches were in force, I’d had my share of cuts and punctures on my feet while walking through the sand. Not very nice and that was about the limit of my experience of “beach glass”.
However, mix in portions of wave action, the abrasive qualities of sand, the chemical properties of sea water and generous amounts of time and broken beer bottles morph into something that ladies are willing to use as earrings and pendants.
I learned some interesting things about sea glass and how searching for it is definitely among some of the fun things to do at the beach.
About Sea Glass:
- Trash used to be dumped into the ocean – those sites are now the best for collecting sea glass;
- Some sea glass comes from shipwrecks;
- White and green are the most common colors – pretty, but not rare;
- Orange, red, yellow, cobalt and other colors are quite rare;
- Generally, the best time to look for sea glass is after vigorous storms;
- There is a North American Sea Glass Association – seaglassassociation.org;
- Supplies are dwindling as littering is discouraged and (thankfully) the oceans aren’t used as dumps.
