The girls and I love searching for sea glass (and heart rocks) when we go to any beach, so when we discovered this little gem out in Sidney – we felt that we hit the jackpot.
Sidney is located about 20 minutes south of Victoria on the way towards the Schwartz Bay ferry. When you hit Sidney, you turn right down the main drag (right through the heart of downtown) and drive right to the pier; not off the pier – to the pier. And there, on your right, will be 50 yards of pure magic.
(apologies for the small photos, this is an older blog post!)
My child labour hard at work – I pay in candy and kisses (and there is a line-up).
Can you believe this?
Above are some of my faves – I can’t BELIEVE we found a RED one! We’ve never found a red one before. Luckily I have a “Sea Glass” book which explains each colour, it’s origin and it’s rarity.
Apparently our red piece is ‘extremely rare’ and the most coveted of all sea-glass colours; 1 in every 5,000 pieces.
On the otherhand, the kelly green one is one of the most common (along with white/clear and brown), but I do love almost any shade of green so I love it anyways.
My best sea glass hunting tip for you? Go close to the waters’ edge where the pieces are wet (as the colours are more vivid) and crouch down low and just look at the area around you – it’s when you slow down and pay attention that the real treasures appear (ain’t that the truth…)
I keep our most special and beautiful pieces in a pottery dish that Cassie made for me – I have a piece in there from every single beach we’ve been to as we won’t leave the beach until we find one. Precious gems for precious memories….
Do you want to learn about other FABulous things to do and hidden treasures on beautiful Vancouver Island? Go visit my BFF at Vancouver Island View!
Comments 6
Oh neat the boys and I still do this in our walks. We love this beach. Totally making a trip there ASAP!!!
Apparently there is one on Saltspring Island too…I hear we may have a babysitter in the near future????
I also know about the beach glass in sidney but i decided against advertising it for the simple reason that with it being known, you can be assured that our beach glass beach will turn into just another beach because it will attract to many picker’s.
Do you know of a good place on Salt Spring to find beach glass? Heading that way and wanting to find some of that beauty.
Hi Jennifer! I’m sorry, I wish I did! We’re going to head over there this summer too as I’ve heard that there is an amazing sea glass beach over there. Let me know what you find!!!
The sea glass off Sidney beach comes from a few different sources. The mill that was located at Beacon Ave at the turn on the century burned down in 1936 and much of whatever was in and around was washed into the sea. As well, a horrible shipwreck took place right off the coast killing men, women and children and tossing all their goods and the cargo of the ship into the ocean to resurface throughout time. There was a terrible ship accident that involved the ship blazing in flames and killing over 70 people, and depositing coal and other fire damaged items into the narrows between Nanaimo and Victoria. Much of the glass in our waters is antique, made at the San Fran Pacific Glassworks. Spread the word. Victoria’s history needs to be preserved and not pilfered.