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Sea Glass at Huanchaco Beach, Peru - South America

by David and Lin ~ Odyssey Sea Glass
(Huanchaco, Peru)

Early 2018 Update: This page started with our intentions of posting the sea glass after each of our hunts on the beach where we live in Huanchaco, Peru.

The photos quickly added up to the point where I couldn't keep up. However... I will continue to post as I get time.

Some days on Huanchaco Beach are great, some days nothing at all, most days there is at least one beautiful piece of beach glass found.

We find lots of other intriguing objects while beachcombing and you'll see an occasional "beach find" photo.

Please enjoy these reports and add your comments. Then share this with friends.

Huanchaco Peru Sea Glass 2017

November - Huanchaco Beach, Peru

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November 8, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

August 10, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

August 8, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

August 5, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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August - Huanchaco Beach, Peru

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August 15, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

August 10, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

August 8, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

August 5, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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July - Huanchaco Beach, Peru

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July 25, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

July 24, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

July 13, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

July 4, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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June 2017 - Huanchaco Beach, Peru

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June 24, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

June 15, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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June 10, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

June 9, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

June 4, 2017 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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Huanchaco Peru Sea Glass 2016

June 2016 - Huanchaco Beach, Peru

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June 5, 2016 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

June 3, 2016 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

If you had visited our beach just a week earlier, you would likely have left disgusted. Even for Lin's eagle eyes, almost nothing was showing for several days. We even got a big ZERO a couple of times. Not one piece was to be found.

Lin and I weren't disgusted though, as we've seen this beach change so many times. It might completely sand one week and the next week almost entirely rocks.

By June 3rd, waves and currents had turned over the layers and exposed the perfect size of pebbles. You can see what we found!

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May 2016 - Huanchaco Beach, Peru

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May 2016 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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Huanchaco Peru Sea Glass 2015

December 22, 2015 - Huanchaco Beach, Peru

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Some days are better than others :)

On this day, Lin found lots of colors... including this amazing yellow cat-eye marble.

This marble that she found almost buried under the pebbles is worn down to about 2/3 of its orginal size.

The age of the marble is uncertain, but is later than 1950s, when cat-eye marbles first became popular.

With lots of wave action here day and night, the beach glass gets worn smooth pretty quickly.

But that also means that the glass tends to wear down fast until it finally is too small to collect and then disappears.

On the other hand, cumping, erosion of cliffs, rains, and rivers add occasionally to the supply of new glass to the beaches.

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Dec 7, 2015 Huanchaco Beach Glass

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We got home a few minutes ago from the beach here in Peru.

Although it was overcast, it was around 70 degrees F on the beach. Summer is starting here this month.

Like lots of beaches around the world, at times we can walk this beach and not find one piece of glass. So if you are able to visit a beach where photos have shown great sea glass and you hit it on the wrong day... don't give up, give it another chance.

This day, December 7, 2015 was a really good day. We don't expect to find this much when we go.

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August 27, 2015 Huanchaco Beach Glass

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Sea Glass that Lin and David found on August 27 2015 at our local beach.

Lin liked the way it looked on paper. :)

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March 18, 2015 Huanchaco Beach Glass

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1. Our Day's Catch

2. Here's an unusual pale green, well-tumbled shard of sea glass

3. Red-Orange Tiny - Lin found a very tiny red-orange piece of sea glass that possible could be Amberina

4. It is hard to find a completely perfect oval piece of sea glass like this one. What a gem!

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Today, Lin and I walked on the beach where we live here in Huanchaco, Peru.

The day dawned sunny and very warm. The weather was beautiful. The beach wasn't as trashy as usual.

Lin found a tiny red-orange.

We also found the large blue shown in the photographs. It was unfortunately chipped and strangely cracked.

We found over 40 pieces of glass among other interesting objects in about 2 hours.

We came across a current convergence where a bunch of flotsam and jetsam was piled. Among the trash was several tiny starfish. So cute!

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Huanchaco Peru Sea Glass 2014

August 21st, 2014 Huanchaco Beach

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Like many beaches, the change in the level of the sand and exposure of the rocks underlying the sand layers can be drastic here in Huanchaco, Peru.

There are days when the beach is mostly rocks and pebbles. On those days, there is generally a pretty good day's haul of sea glass.

On other days, the beach is mostly sand and almost no sea glass at all to be found.

On the day we found the sea glass shown above, the conditions were somewhere in between with some small pockets of pebbles in amongst the sand.

Along with several nice pieces of sea glass, we found some other interesting beach finds.

Now, the hard part. Incorporating these finds into something artistic!

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February 27, 2014 Huanchaco Beach

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February 26th, 2014 - Today, low tide, warm weather (it's summer here) and lots of pebble drifts showing - YES!

We find a good selection of sea glass - and Lin finds the beautiful red shown at the top of this page.

She found it about halfway to Huanchaquito in an area that usually is very sandy with an occasional piece of beach glass in the more common colors.

Wow! Well-tumbled sea glass here -  very few "uncooked" pieces ever found.

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January 16, 2014 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

Beach glass catch from 2 hours on Huanchaco Beach

On this day, Lin and I didn't find a whole bunch of sea glass.

On the other hand, there are a few really nice pieces.

Whites (clear) and green sea glass pieces don't usually get us real excited.

But when they are so perfectly shaped, each piece appeals to our sense of design and symmetry. Of course, a rare color is even better :-)

As usual, this day we also picked up other beachcombing finds like pieces of tile and ceramic, driftwood, and a sea urchin.

More than anything, it is so refreshing to get outdoors, breathe the salt air, stretch out the arms and legs, feel your feet on the sand, and get a little tangy wet.

Walking on the rounded pebbles is like getting a pressure point massage. Therapists recommend walking on the beach barefoot.

However... not in weather below 40 degrees F. Not recommended for bare feet. Not even for foolhardy people like seaglassers. Nope.

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Huanchaco Peru Sea Glass 2013

December 30, 2013 Huanchaco Beach

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Sea Glass, Tile, Pebbles, and Ceramic Beach Catch Today!

What is impressive as usual here is the perfectly rounded and frosted pieces. It is much harder to find craft-grade sea glass than it is to find Jewelry A quality!

Although sea glass as such is not very well known (well, almost unknown) as such, there are the appreciative beachcombers here like anywhere else who pick up sea glass because its pretty, take it home, and put in a jar.

Now, our Peruvian friends have caught on and are rapidly becoming addicted.

One friend, Alex Cabanillas, had some family visiting from Lima, a long ways from here.

Their last day here, they had to catch the bus out in the evening. So they were wondering what to do during the day. Alex suggested walking the beach.

He showed them sea glass. They immediately began find (mostly clear) pieces but very rounded and frosted.

They got so excited they didn't want to leave the beach and had a hard time making the bus back to Lima.

You know what I mean :-)

~ submitted by David and Lin of OdysseySeaGlass.com

Dec 12, 2013 Huanchaco Beach

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Lin and I were at the beach on a very nice day yesterday and found some sea glass as well as the "Mermaid's Purses" shown above.

Actually, I (David) didn't find much sea glass, just three or four small whites.

I find that my eyes are getting worse as I get older in the sense that colors don't jump out at me.

Although I don't notice the pebbles etc being blurry, when I bend over just a little, my eyes seem to distinguish colors much more rapidly. But my back just doesn't handle bending over like that very well.


Anyway, Lin's eyes are six inches closer to the treasures, so she doesn't have to bend over to see the sea glass (that's my reasoning anyway). Not to mention that she is 11 years younger.

Today, however, her neck is really hurting, so when we go to the beach in a few minutes, she'll be doing the spotting and I'll have to the picking up and photos.

The "mermaids purses" shown in the photo above are actually leathery cases containing either:

• Shark eggs or 
• Skate (ray) eggs.

Which is it? Read about these interesting beach finds at Mermaid's Purse - Huanchaco Beach Peru Beach Finds

November 7, 2013 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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The last time we went hunting beach glass here at Huanchaco Beach, Peru, was a couple of days ago.

At that time, the sand had piled up and covered up lots of the mixed rocks pebble layers where sea glass is usually found, so there wasn't a lot.

Today, the tide was really low and there was a nice strip of pebbles showing.

The weather was misty the whole time we were on the beach, but it was fairly warm, like around 70 degrees F.

We ended up with a really nice catch.

Here are some of the photos.

If you haven't been following us on Facebook you likely didn't see the photo of a big dump truck dumping garbage directly into the sea a few miles south of here.

One of the major Peruvian newspapers ran a report on the garbage disposal problem of the city of Trujillo, Peru.

Trujillo is only about 20 minutes from where we live in Huanchaco.

Anyway, this problem of dumping off the bluffs in the neighborhood of "Buenos Aires" (not the city in Argentina) was being excused somewhat as a way to slow down the erosion of the cliffs which had been slowly destroying property.

Be that as it may, we get quite a bit of trash coming in on the tides to our beach. Yuck.

We'll try to get down to that dump site to see first-hand what is going on

Of course, we won't hesitate to put our HazMat suits on and clean up any well-rounded pieces of glass trash we come across LOL.

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November 4, 2013 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

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We generally get pretty excited over blues. Even though the blues are usually small, we love 'em!

The blue/gray in the first photo above is almost perfect. Yes! The second photo shows another perfectly-shape blue. It amazes us at the amount of perfectly rounded and shaped pieces here.

NOTES:

The beach here changes from one day to the next.

Aside from tides, the changes that affect hunting for sea glass is whether it is going to be covered up with lots of sand or if the pebbles and sea glass will be exposed.

Some days there is a great "spread" of pebbles just the right size for a mix of sea glass. Other days, there are almost no pebbles showing (or sea glass, although we always find some).

We've been here about 4 months and are trying to figure it out, see if there's a pattern to the changes - whether it's the size of the surf (varies from 3 feet to 12 feet), mild/extreme tide changes, or what.

Like many places, sea glass hunting is best here at low tide. Since there is sand over a rock bottom, the pebbles and sea glass tend to be more at lower tide lines

November 2, 2013 - Huanchaco Beach Glass

The weather has been changing to spring here in Huanchaco, Peru.

What this means is less fog and breeze, more sun and warmer air.

Since we aren't that far from the equator, the sun is pretty much overhead most of the year.

The weather is affected mainly by the cold or colder ocean current that sweeps up from Antartica.

Because of these factors, the temperature doesn't vary a lot by day or night!

For these few weeks, day temperature is running at about 70 degrees F, night time at 66 degrees F.

This is inside and outside - there is no central heating in most houses in Peru and it's not really needed,Inside Peru Huanchaco Beach especially in the lowlands of the coast, and definitely not needed in the jungle areas..

Anyway, pretty pleasant temperatures for walking the beach!

For more info on Peru, see our web site Inside-Peru.com

~ submitted by David and Lin at OdysseySeaGlass.com




Tide Chart for Huanchaco, Peru, South America

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