Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Glass Beach - Kauai

A friend told us about an interesting place that isn't in most of the tour guides. We pulled over on the way there and I took this pic.

I told you this place was lush. What isn't beach is jungle.

We got off the highway and took a little dirt road down to the beach below this industrial area.  I know, it does seem odd to find this in the middle of paradise, but the tourists need gas! this is where they store it. We actually parked on the beach just below that tank on the right.

Here's the same beach a bit closer. This was obviously NOT a tourist area. Like I said above, we parked right on the beach and we were the only people there. You see that sand? Guess what? It's not sand!

See? Yeah, there's a little bit of sand, but even most of the tiny pieces are glass. Back in the day, this place was used as the island dump for about 100 years. Most of the big stuff has apparently been removed.  Erosion has taken care of the rest and all that remains is smoothed pieces of glass and metal.

Here is a random handful that I scooped up.

I wanted to see how deep it went, so I scooped out a trench about 10 inches deep. It was still almost all glass.

Here's my wife looking for bigger pieces as a wave recedes. Red sea glass is worth money, the rest not so much. 

In the rocks there were some items that nature was still working on. This is an engine block.

A very large crankshaft

That has nothing to do with the above, I just liked it.


My next post will be about a very old and abandoned Japanese cemetery we found.  Yep, the Japanese were some of the first people to settle on Kauai.


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42 comments:

  1. Pat, what I like about this post is your attention to the fine details of the landscape. Not everyone would have noticed that the beach is made of glass fragments.

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  2. wow, Pat. thanks for sharing these beautiful and refreshing shots! :)

    what a magical view, indeed!

    betty

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  3. Interesting post, Pat - did BuyMeBarbies find some good pieces of glass?

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  4. Very cool! I have to visit this place someday.

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  5. So beautiful that it looks fake to me. :-) You're not pulling one over on us, are you, Pat?!

    Pearl

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  6. The first picture was breath-taking and something I would like to experience in person one day.

    How can they dump trash in paradise?

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  7. Beautiful beach! It's so cool that nature has made trash into treasure.

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  8. dennis - Hey there! Long time no see. I wish that's how I found it. Actually, a friend gave us the tip. I'll be over to your blog soon to catch up.

    Betty M - My pleasure! Thanks for the nice words.

    Nat - We all found a few. Her and both found a piece from the same piece of china. Both pieces had part of the bottom markings!

    Sarah - I hope you do!

    Pearl - You caught me! Just like the fake moon landing.... It's all fake!

    Budd - Hmm...I wonder where they dump it now?

    Bossy Betty - thanks! My only regret, is that we weren't there at low tide...

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  9. Thanks for sharing this great post Patrick.
    Amazing this beach with sand filled with glass.
    Have a nice day my friend:)
    Greetings from,
    Berit.

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  10. Very interesting, today we would never consider allowing trash to be dumped on the beach but I think the "glass sand" lovely.

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  11. Neat glass. Nice find!
    If you get a chance... great photo experience at the old Koloa Sugar Mill, off the Weliweli Road in Kauai.
    We are enjoying your 'paradise'.

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  12. That's oddly cool what nature has done with random garbage.

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  13. Berit - Thanks! It's my pleasure!

    Martha Z - You are so right... I think that during the time it was a "dump," the stuff was just pushed off the cliff.

    Brenda - thanks Brenda! Koloa was the closest town to us. I did get some photos of the Sugar Mill!

    TS - It just goes to show us that our footprint on the planet can be very easily erased with the passage of time.

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  14. More awesome photos, Pat! LOVED those shots of the glass. Ooh, red! GREAT find! :) Keep those photos coming!

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  15. I love investigating rocks myself. I've found some interesting ones in the desert.

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  16. Simply Beautiful.
    Looks like a pretty much perfect trip. And that 1st shot made me want to go! Now.

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  17. Cool shots! Beach glass is pretty neat, especially when they start to frost from the churning in the sand.

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  18. i've certainly never seen anything like it! when we were kids, a friend and i used to walk along the beach looking for sea glass (though it wasn't the sea, it was a lake). sometimes we found some barely smoothed fragments of broken bottles, but that was about it. :P

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  19. A glass beach - that is really wild. And that engine part looks more like a spine.

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  20. Those closeups are incredible! Sewage plant – not so much. haha

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  21. What a cool place between the glass and the old cemetery and the nice scenery.

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  22. Was she barefoot? Is it that smooth? Amazing!

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  23. Oilfield Trash - thanks so much!

    Pam - thanks Pam! They'll be coming for a couple of weeks.

    Belle - I've got all the rocks I need in my skull...

    Dawn - thanks Dawn! It was just about perfect!

    Blue Wave - Yep! Takes a long time, but ends up nice.

    Ven - It was a first for me also. I was also told about a "secret" glass beach in the SF area.

    Alex - I hadn't thought about it looking like a spine, but you are right.

    Jesse - Thanks! It was a gas tank storage place. I wouldn't be in any water downstream from a sewage plant!

    M Pax - Thanks so much! It was really nice.

    Ms A - Yep! It's that smooth. It's really old...

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  24. May I warn about sex on the beach... In all seriousness these are great photos, I love the glass/sand and would like a bottle of it before it turns into sand as it will in about another 100 years, but that sand will then be colourful and, like beautiful sunsets, a testament to the way we treated our earth.

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  25. More beautiful shots! I think the old glass is interesting and even more so when I enlarged the pictures.

    I'm back in O.C. living in Newport Beach. I had to laugh at the pie comment because I just bought a pie from Coco's. :)

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  26. Wow that first shot is breathtaking. Looks like a beautiful beach!!

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  27. Amazing....and I did get a chuckle out of the totally unexpected engine parts!

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  28. beautiful and love the close up of the sand

    Everyday Life

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  29. Wow, it really is paradise through and through. Exquisite pictures.
    xoRobyn

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  30. What a beautiful place.
    I have found a few pieces of sea glass on various beaches but nothing like that, wow.

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  31. I love the close-ups of the beach glass, especially the closest one. Very nice!!! Pretty. I didn't know about this place, either.

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  32. I really like the photo of your wife in the water - her shirt is the same color and that water is gorgeous. the first photo reminds me of scenes from Lost. and that reminds me that I never did get around to watching that last season. too much time has passed now. the final photo is great too. paradise.

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  33. Wow...this blew me away, Pat...I'd not known anything about it! Loving beach glass and rusted bits as I do, I could spend a very long time poking along this stretch of beach...:)

    And thank you for your lovely comments on the passing of our boy, Oreo. I sorry to hear you lost your own fellow not that long ago. Aren't we lucky to have had them with us for at least a while?

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  34. Jhon - I thought about taking some, but figured if everyone did that, there wouldn't be any left. I thought it was pretty interesting that most of the glass looked like it was from beer bottles.

    James - Thanks James. I appreciate it. Welcome back to the area. Are you going to be able to handle having no "real" weather? LOL...

    Baby Sister - Thanks so much!

    Marlene - Yep! most of it kinda blended right in.

    becca - Thanks becca! I couldn't believe it...

    Robyn - It really is. I think I could live there.

    SQ - I'd gotten a few pieces in my time also, but I was shocked by this place.

    tapirgal - Yeah, it was really surprising. I'm really happy that our friend told us about this place. It wasn't in any of the local guides.

    Lynette - I almost forgot, there were also a lot of little worn and shiny pieces of metal. Sorry again, about Oreo. So sad...

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  35. Great pics and so interesting about the glass! My fave is the last one, awesome!

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  36. These are beautiful snaps of a heavenly place.

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  37. Top shot looks like home.... starting to miss it, but will be going back in two weeks. Do I see some tiny sharp shells among that glass? Guess you and your honey weren't romping around barefooted. I like your last shot too.

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  38. Engine blocks are biodegradable right?

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  39. Marguerite - Thanks so much! I liked that one also.

    Rek - Thanks Rek, it sure is...

    Francisca - We weren't barefoot, but I didn't see any sharp pieces. Thanks!

    PTM - I think they are. It only takes about 100,000 years...

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  40. I've read about this beach! I can't believe you got to go there!

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  41. Love Kauai's amazing Glass Beach, it's a fan favorite and a great place for fun photos too:
    https://lookintohawaii.com/hawaii/9160/glass-beach-beaches-kauai-eleele-hi

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