How It Started
RareSeaGlass.com began in 2017 with a simple obsession: hunting for sea glass at Davenport Beach, California. That stretch of coastline just north of Santa Cruz sits below the ruins of an old cement plant, and the waves there turn up glass in colors you won't find anywhere else - deep cobalt blues, bright oranges, swirled multis, and the famous Davenport "mushrooms" shaped by decades of tumbling in heavy surf.
What started as weekend trips quickly turned into something more. We started writing field reports - what the tides were doing, which colors were showing up, where to dig, when to go. Those early posts covered everything from hunting seasons to sneaker wave safety to the story behind where all that glass actually comes from. They were practical notes for other collectors, written from the beach with sand still on our hands.
What We Cover Now
The site has grown well beyond Davenport. We now research and write about sea glass locations from around the world - from Fort Bragg's Glass Beach in California to Seaham Beach in northeast England, from Kauai's hidden Glass Beach to Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor. Every location page includes the history of how the glass got there, what colors and types you can expect to find, when to visit, and what the collecting rules are.
Beyond locations, we write about the hobby itself. Our blog covers topics like identifying rare sea glass colors, understanding what makes certain pieces valuable, and practical tips for building a collection worth keeping. We focus on the kind of specific, experience-based knowledge that's hard to find elsewhere - not generic recycled content, but details that actually help when you're standing on a beach wondering what you just found.
Our Approach
We care about accuracy. Sea glass collecting has a lot of folklore and wishful thinking floating around - pieces misidentified as rare when they're common, origin stories repeated without evidence, beaches hyped up that don't deliver. We try to cut through that. When we describe a color as rare, we explain why. When we recommend a beach, we've either been there or done serious research into what collectors actually report finding.
We also believe in respecting the places we visit. That means following local collecting rules - some beaches allow it, some don't, and the rules matter. It means packing out trash, staying off fragile dunes, and treating these spots like the shared resources they are. The best sea glass beaches stay good because people take care of them.
The Archives
Our archives section preserves the original 2017 Davenport Beach posts that started everything. These are a time capsule of sorts - field reports, collecting tips, and observations from a specific place at a specific time. Davenport has changed since then (more people, less glass, shifting beach conditions), but the fundamentals of what made it special still hold. If you're planning a trip to Davenport or just curious about what the hype is about, the archives are where to start.
Get in Touch
Have a correction, a tip about a beach we should cover, or a question about something you found? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] and we'll do our best to help.