Port Williams, WA - Sea Glass Report

by David and Lin @ Odyssey
(Sequim, Washington for now)

The beach is actually Marlyn Nelson County Park. However, most people know it as Port Williams Beach.

It is at the end of Port Williams road near Sequim, Washington (see book below)on the Olympic Peninsula.

The body of water is a bay on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Although this beach is about the closest to where we are living for the time being, Lin and I had not checked it out until a couple of days ago. Why? It is not in a prime location for sea glass.

It faces toward the east and is protected from the main wave action coming from the west down the strait. So we had put off going there, not expecting to find much.

You can see that what we found was pretty much what we expected. In an hour and a half, only one piece of jewelry grade sea glass between the two of us, and that was a common white piece.

We threw everything back except for the white piece (keepsake) after taking the "catch of the day" picture.

Rate the beach: --- Poor  - 0 piece of jewelry grade sea glass found per hour (less than one piece of jewelry grade sea glass per hour)

On the positive side, however, we LOVED this beach. The scenery is beautiful, as is the scenery in all this area along the waterways. The beach is long in both directions, providing good walking. There are interesting rocks, driftwood, seaweeds, etc.

Another pleasant thing about Port Williams is that it faces east. This means sun in the morning (shade afternoon from the cliffs) and protection from the winds blowing from the west. Really a great place to spend a few hours!

Be sure a get a copy of the book below, which adds a lot about each beach around here.

Afoot & 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 just about every accessible beach, cove, boat ramp, etc. Even better, 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. *Although it doesn't include a map to North Beach itself, it does talk about it and gives some historical color (Indians) to this beach.

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