Beach find of Red and Yellow Glass, Three Marbles, and More

by David and Lin
(Odyssey Sea Glass, Bow, WA)

Moran Beach - lots of hours turns up a few great treasures

Moran Beach - lots of hours turns up a few great treasures

Moran Beach on Whidbey Island in the San Juan Island Group of the State of Washington.

Lin and I have spent many hours on this beach and West Beach to the north. A lot of time hunting turns up a few good finds. Some days nothing to speak of. Other days some real treasures. Lin and I found this catch between Moran Beach and West Beach on Whidbey Island, WA, last Tuesday.

Lin found the best pieces, including the very tumbled green marble, the bright yellow piece, and the large perfectly tumbled red piece of beach glass.

We also found some perfect more common colors as well as some nice beach shards and agates.

Here's a comment and our reply (see original below):


Jul 07, 2009 You SCORED!
by: Wendy


Wow! That is an amazing collection for one day...just curious...do you specifically go beach combing at low tide? First thing in the morning? Whenever the urge strikes you?
I love that red piece...

-------

Hi Wendy,

Thanks for the comment. The interesting thing is that this beach is a middle-of-the-road beach like you would find many places.

We don't find great pieces every time. A red like that is totally unexpected. We have been looking and hoping for a yellow for a long time, and, WOW, Lin found one. But 99.9% of what we find are the normal colors.

BUT, it just goes to show you what's out there on just a "normal" family-type beach. You never know!

West Beach and Moran beach where we found these pieces on is the second and third-closest beaches to where we lived, 40 minutes away.

West Beach is in Deception Pass State Park. Moran Beach is farther south and is a County Beach.

  • UPDATE August 2017 - West Beach and Moran Beach are on the same stretch of beach but there is private property in between so you cannot hike from one to the other.
  • At one time, there was no problem walking from one beach all the way to the other. However, more recently, homeowners have gotten very upset, so we do NOT recommend leaving the public areas.
  • (For more information go to the website Island Beach Access, a group that is trying to get more public access to beaches on the island. Moran Beach info is at 
    http://www.islandbeachaccess.org/beach.php?id=92)

Scroll down to read the comments about the bad experience one couple had.

We have found on this beach that there is just as much glass anywhere from between the high tide line to the low tide line.

The very low tide line is not nearly as good as the mid part, as there are more hours of wave action higher up the beach plus the waves seem to keep the small rocks and sand piled higher up on the beach.

We found it best to go best when the tide was dropping. Although we always check at the tide chart online before we go, but tide levels really don't stop us. We go when we have some time and need to get out of the house...about a couple of times a week.

So, on the beaches in this area, beach glass hunting is good anytime except during the highest tides.

HERE'S THE MAIN POINT:

The real factor to a good beach glass day, really, is not what time you go or what you find...it's being able to enjoy being out there. The unexpected treasures are just the icing on the cake!

~ David and Lin





Buy this book on Amazon.com:

afoot and afloat puget soundAfoot & Afloat North Puget Sound

This book is a must-have for sea glass lovers hunting for treasures in the beautiful Puget Sound area. Lin and I own a copy and it has details of how to get to every little accessible beach, cove, point, boat ramp, etc. Not only that, it goes into the history of the particular beaches.

For example, the closest beach to our temporary quarters here in Sequim, WA, is a beach called Port Williams. We wondered why in the world it is called a "port." All there is now is a boat ramp and a tiny county park surrounded by woods and fields.

In detail, this book tells us that it once was the stop along a steamer route and had a post office, dance hall, restaurant, and residences. Now there isn't even a portapottie that we could find. But you can imagine the possibilities of old glass on the beaches described in this book - and other books of this series.







Scroll down for comments...
sea glass colors line


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Comments for Beach find of Red and Yellow Glass, Three Marbles, and More

Click here to add your own comments

Aug 12, 2019
Nasty Woman Stikes Again
by: Anonymous

My daughter and her husband were walking along Maron Beach and my daughter pointed to a house on the uplands told her husband how nice the house looked. About 5 minutes later a woman came out of the house and started upbraiding my daughter for pointing at her home, told her she was trespassing, the owners had to put up with people having sex on the beach, going to the bathroom on the beach, leaving garbage on the beach, on and on and on. My daughter tried to tell the irate woman that she had not meant trespass but her greatgrandparents James and Rena Balda had a farm whose farmhouse still stood and her grandmother took her to that beach as a little girl. It just made the woman more irate.

May 09, 2019
Finding sea glass
by: Patty

My daughter and I are visiting area in June and would love to find some sea glass. We will only have one day to explore this so need easy access. Where would be best beach to look? It would be between Annacortes and Seattle, mid-morning to afternoon?

Feb 03, 2019
Homeowners don't want you on their beach
by: Kevin Burk

I just want to emphasize that homeowners do not want people walking on their private beach between Moran and West Beach. We visited Moran Beach County Park on Jan 26 2019 and as soon as we parked (we were the only car there) a homeowner came out and politely but firmly said that they pay a lot of taxes to have private beach access so please respect their ownership and don't trespass by walking on their beach. Considering the public have access to just 100 feet of beachfront, we quickly left to explore another beach. Posting this not as a complaint about the homeowner's attitude (I respect their right to own the beach) but more to warn people not to count on much of a long beach walk at Moran Beach.

Aug 28, 2017
Home owners are crazy
by: Mila

My husband and I went to Moran Park and walked down to the water. We walked up the beach for about 10 minutes and then decided to go home. We live in Anacortes.

When we got back to the parking lot a woman started screaming at us, saying we trespassed on her property and she was calling the cops and she was going to sue us.

We yelled back to quit yelling at us and we yelled that she was crazy. We ignored her yelling got into our car and drove out.

All of sudden an SUV came down the side road and it was this crazy old woman. She chased after us all the way to HWY 20. I got out of my car and approached her. I asked her what the hell she was doing?

She said she was taking a photo of my license plate to call the cops and to sue me. I told her she was crazy and I would call the cops if she continued to follow me. She just continued to scream at me. I got back in my car and pulled out into traffic and lost her.

Please beware of this crazy old woman if you go beachcombing at this park.

Feb 08, 2016
Moran Beach on Whidbey
by: Moran Beach Property Owner

This is to notify you that people who collect beach glass on Moran Beach on Whidbey, are trespassing on PRIVATE beach and tidelands.

Yes, we own out into the water, pay taxes on it and have homeowners ins. on it.

Go online to Island County Parks Dept. site and type in Moran Beach for verification. This is not a State beach like others on the Island are, so we can and have to restrict access from the public.

Island County has a 100' wide park at the end of Powell Road for public use, but you may not go beyond those boundaries in either direction.

Thank you for respecting our private beaches and tidelands. Please spread the word.

Moran Beach Property Owner.

May 07, 2012
Not Air Force Base
by: Brian

Its a Navy Base. Beware. Between Moran Beach and Deception Pass is private beach.

---

Just a note from editors: Moran Beach is public access. A little ways to the left is the Navy Base, so don't go further.

To the right are private homes. Apparently, Washington State has permitted sale of many shore properties all the way to the low tide line. this certainly impedes access to areas that we feel should enjoyed in a quiet manner by the public. For questions about this, see the link in the main article above.

Please, respect the homeowners; don't infringe on their privacy and leave the area if they become upset.

We walked past the homes at least 20 times and no one ever complained. But times change. :-)

David and Lin at Odyssey Sea Glass

Jul 14, 2009
Hey Wendy, I am on my way...!
by: Katie

I am heading to Whidbey Island soon, Robin told me of this site. What a treat to see your name in the comment section! will see what comes up on our beach combing adventure...heard Kauai was kind to you on your island glass beach hunt.
Katie

Jul 07, 2009
you SCORED!
by: Wendy

Wow! That is an amazing collection for one day...just curious...do you specifically go beach combing at low tide? First thing in the morning? Whenever the urge strikes you?
I love that red piece...

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