Sea Glass Reports - Catches Vary a Lot!

by David and Lovely Lin
(Somewhere in NW Wash)

2009 Sep 17 West Beach, Whidbey Island WA

Catches of the Day

Here is one reason why some report sea glass as being GOOD at a certain beach and the someone reports the same beach as POOR!

David and Lin walk together down the beach. As you can see, Lin finds a lot more glass...more colors...

And she does it consistently! Since this was found in about 2-1/2 hours, Lin might rate this beach excellent(16 jewelry grade pieces per hour) and David rate it as only fair (3-5 jewelry grade per hour).

You see what I mean? Both would be right.

That is one possible reason you may find sea glass beach reports that say different things. Of course, there are other factors:

1. One person is a lot more adept at seeing the beach glass (shown here).

2. Every ocean beach changes a lot with the two tides a day. Even more with storms. So one day is very different from another.

3. A person reportng - "Rated: Excellent (16+ jewelry grade pieces found per hour)" when actually he has only found 16 craft grade pieces.

Well, out of the three factors listed, #3 is the only one that can be changed. So-

Do your homework. Check out the pages on grading sea glass and study the photos carefully. A beach with only craft grade glass can only be rated Poor no matter how many pieces are found!

David (editor)