Rincon, Puerto Rico
Rincon, Puerto Rico - A Sea Glass Lovers Paradise
When I moved to Rincon, Puerto Rico it was still very much of a backwater. There was no internet then and the expats who found their way there where either surfers, true rat race dropouts or misfits. The expat "gringo" community was made up of those who arrived on the island only by way of their wanderlust without an internet roadmap. I found my own way to Rincon when staying with family in a neighboring town. While driving at night I saw a sign that said "Rincon" and begged my cousin to take me. She insisted there was nothing there. Something was drawing me there and off we went on a moonlit night driving through miles and miles of sugarcane fields. The final approach into Rincon was a a narrow stretch of winding and curving road which went through jungle like scenery. Once in Rincon I saw a nocturnal rainbow arch across the sea and I became enchanted. The next day I returned and found a place to stay. A few days later I had stumbled upon a treasure trove of sea glass jewels.
I first arrived in Rincon as it was just transitioning out of what were wild west like times in terms of the expat community. It still had enough of the wild west energy to feel exciting and remote. A true paradox as Puerto Rico is very densely populated. Somehow Rincon had been overlooked and ignored by the rest of the island. There were plenty of those Star Wars bar scenes to keep things exciting too. We all drove around in beat up vintage cars and few of us had phones or TV's. I was one of the few expats back in the day that stayed year round - through the summer as many were seasonal residents. The Caribbean summertime was my true bliss. The rainy season brings glowing green and flowering trees, mangos come into season...and the beaches became even emptier.
There were only a few restaurant then and most had the same menu - fried or garlic shrimp, ribs, chicken with sides of rice and beans, fried ripe plantains "amarillos" or fried green plaintains "tostones", papas fritas ( french fries ) cabbage salad and the most delicious garlic bread imagineable. One favorite spot was the "El Coqui" which was in middle of nowhere up in the hills. I can still hear the sound of the serving cart on the terrazzo. In the bars you could buy one cigarette and a match for it. The bars weren't fancy but you could get the best Pina Colada you have ever had in any of them.
Needless to say Rincon, like everywhere, has changed tremendously. I watched condos spring up like mushrooms on a wet log and eventually development spread past the point of no return. Rincon has now became a crown jewel in Puerto Rico's tourism industry. It has also become legendary for sea glass. For many years I wandered Rincon's beaches in solitude. In the first few years I lived there the local women rarely went to the beach.
Many people write to me for sea glass collecting information. Once there Rincon is pretty self explanatory once you get use to the circling road system. The beaches north of the marina are best. The conditions have to be right and I can not predict that for collectors. Somehow I have managed to find sea glass without the use of the internet to tell me where! The information here is a guide. It does take a good old fashion sense of adventure and exploration. There are no gaurantees. A trip to Rincon could yield nothing if there is a really big swell, afterall it is famous for surfing. If you get there just as the surf lays down then low tide could be sweet. If you go when the surf hasn't come up for a while you will find that it is picked over.
The Main Reasons Puerto Rico Has A Lot Of Sea Glass:
In recent years Puerto Rico has become a well known sea glass collecting location. Although the amount of sea glass that washes up on the beaches of Puerto Rico is decreasing it is still considered to have an abundance of sea glass.
The three main reasons that Puerto Rico has a lot of sea glass are:
- Population Density - Puerto Rico is one of the worlds most densely populated islands and exceeds all fifty states in population density.
- Erosion - The island is mostly deforested and there is also a lot of land disturbance due to poor land management practices. Heavy rains wash loose dirt and debris ( including discarded glass ) into rivers and streams that empty out in the sea.
- Powerful Surf - Puerto Rico's waves not only attract surfers from all over the world they also help to create some of the worlds most beautiful sea glass.
Much of Puerto Rico's sea glass comes from glass that was discarded on land and was carried by rivers and streams to the sea. The island is very mountaneous and has been heavily deforested so there are very few tree roots to hold topsoil in place. There is also a lot of land disturbance by earth moving machinery. During the summer rainy season heavy rains wash loose dirt, rocks and debris such as glass down steep hillsides into quebradas ( rivers & streams ) which flow to the sea.
Very often after heavy rains the clear blue waters off of Puerto Rico turn brown as large amounts of dirt and debris enter the sea by way of quebradas. For many this is ecologically traumatizing to witness as this means that Puerto Rico is not only loosing precious topsoil but this is also destroying the islands coral reef systems. It is during these events, when the sea off of Puerto Rico looks like chocolate milk, that more glass is being introduced to the sea. So it comes as no surprise that the best collecting spots are on beaches that have rivermouths nearby.
It is possible to find broken pieces of glass on land that have some surface abrasion and smooth edges. This glass got this way from being moved around in the dirt by the forces of ersosion over a period of many decades. Broken glass can also be found in quebradas that has been worn smooth from being tumbled over river rocks and washed against the bottom of the quebradas.
So I think it is safe to say that much of the glass that journeys down the island's quebradas has already begun to change when it enters the sea. It has had a head start.
This image is near a surf break in Rincon, Puerto Rico called Rivermouth where a quebrada ( small river ) flows to the sea. You can see the waves of rivermouth in the distance. On some days the water in this area is beautiful and clear. On other days it looks like chocolate milk due to heavy rains that have washed dirt and debris into the quebrada that empties out at Rivermouth. It is in this runoff that glass and other garbage is carried out to sea from the interior of Puerto Rico. This occurs on beaches all over the island as all of the islands rivers and streams empty out to sea. The best sea glass areas on the island are beaches that are downdrift from a rivermouth.
