Beach trips don’t always go as planned. You can pack your swimsuit and snacks, but you can’t control what the sea brings. And at the beach, you might stumble upon unexpected treasures. From old instruments to ancient artifacts, people have discovered all sorts of strange things. Here are some of the coolest finds people have uncovered at the beach.
Play Me a Song
It’s hard to imagine what you might find at the beach, and this piano shows we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. How did it even get here? Maybe someone left it by accident, but that seems unlikely given its size. Perhaps it was once on a cruise ship. Either way, it’s probably best to steer clear of this broken instrument. Who knows, it might even have the power to summon Sea Sirens.
Chess, Anyone?
Sandcastle competitions happen everywhere, but Mother Nature’s creations are hard to beat. These sand sculptures, like Chess pieces, are called ‘sand hoodoos’ found at Tiscornia Park on Lake Michigan’s shore. They’re rare and form with wet sand and strong winds for days, any time of year.
Look Into My Crystal Ball
If we stumbled upon this glass orb at the beach, we’d definitely want to predict our fortune. It’s pretty magical with its blue-green color and barnacles. Even if it’s not enchanted, it’s worth keeping. Found on a Hawaii beach, it blended with the sand and shells until the discoverer took it home.
Beachy Runway
Beach trips can be messy, especially for those with mobility aids like wheelchairs or strollers. In Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, they installed an accessibility mat at Victoria Beach. This mat makes the beach accessible for everyone and runs from the boardwalk’s midpoint to the water’s edge on Lake Ontario.
Rock On
Here’s a rock that formed inside another rock. At first glance, it’s hard to tell what it is. Some people online thought it was a dinosaur egg, while others guessed it was concretion. But it’s actually just a rock. Nature can be really surprising sometimes!
A Tiny Coca-Cola Bottle
This tiny Coca-Cola bottle is a cute discovery that anyone would love to find at the beach. The person who found it was celebrating their 40th birthday with a day off at the beach. What a nice surprise! These mini Coke bottles used to be sold as keyrings in the market.
Is That You, Patrick?
The best things are sometimes right in front of us. Take this rock, for example. It looks ordinary at first, but if you look closer, you’ll see a special starfish fossil inside. The person who found it decided to keep it because it’s truly one-of-a-kind.
Christmas Trees
North Carolina is beautiful, and its beaches prove it. But did you know one of its beaches is lined with Christmas trees? You might think locals dumped them after the holidays, but that’s not the case. Residents lay down the trees to prevent erosion by trapping sand and building up sand dunes, which helps prevent flooding. It’s a fantastic recycling idea!
A Modern Sandhouse
When you think of sandcastles, you might picture ones made with plastic buckets and shovels. But this masterpiece is on another level. It’s not your typical sandcastle—it’s made with precision and care. Look at the detail—the pillars, stairs, and platform show incredible artistic ability. No wonder the person who found it had to snap a photo right away!
Bridge Over Troubled Water
During high tide, the beach changes a lot. The water rises, covering more sand and leaving less space. When you first see this bridge, you might think it’s a construction mistake. Why would anyone build a bridge in the middle of the sea? But it’s there so people can cross the stream without getting wet. It’s just halfway submerged because of the high tide.
A Message in a Bottle
Finding a message in a bottle is like discovering a piece of history. This person found one while fishing. Inside, there was a typed message and a family picture. The letter, written by a man named Mel, shares his journey and asks whoever finds the bottle to post a picture with it before returning it to the sea.
An Olympic Platform
Organizing an Olympic event takes a lot of work. Brazil faced a hiccup during the 2016 Summer Games. They built a platform for a marathon swimming event, but it unexpectedly detached and washed up on a beach, surprising everyone. The beach had to be closed temporarily to recover the platform.
Making Waves
Cloud gazing is popular because you can see all sorts of shapes in the clouds, like houses or whales. These beachgoers were treated to a poetic sight when the clouds formed waves like those in the ocean. The photo looks more like a painting, showing how amazing nature can be.
Nature’s Sundial
Nature’s creativity knows no bounds. Even something as simple as dried seaweed can create perfect circles in the sand. When one end got stuck and was rotated by the wind, it drew these concentric circles. It just goes to show, Mother Nature is the ultimate artist!
Yooperlite Rocks
Nature’s beauty is everywhere, even in the pebbles you find by the shore. Take Yooperlite rocks, for example. At first glance, they seem ordinary, but under UV light, they come to life. Found mostly in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula along Lake Superior, Yooperlite rocks contain fluorescent sodalite, which makes them glow. It’s like discovering a hidden treasure in plain sight!
A Heart-Shaped Shell
At first glance, this picture looks like a human heart washed up on shore. But it’s not as eerie as it seems— it’s actually a shell covered in barnacles. The way they formed makes it look like a body part. Pretty amazing, right?
Davy Jones’ Locker
It seems like Davy Jones’ locker has been discovered! Well, not really. This person stumbled upon a huge wooden plank at Dillon Beach in California. They even sat on it to show its size. Although it might not look massive at first glance, the person sitting on it is 5’10” tall!
Another Brick in the Wall
The sea has a knack for transforming ordinary objects into something extraordinary. Look at this picture, for example. You might think it’s a new fish species, but it’s actually just a regular brick that got swollen and eroded by the sea. Nature works in mysterious ways!
Keep Watch
The ocean is full of mysteries, and it’s hard to figure out where some things come from or how they end up on the beach. Take this complete watch repair kit, for example. We may never know why it ended up at sea. Let’s just hope nobody’s waiting for their watch repair with this lost kit!
Snowball Fight!
If you want an epic snowball fight experience, head to Lake Michigan! Iceballs have been seen in Benzie County, just south of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. A resident captured photos and a video of them. This rare sight happens when it’s slightly below freezing on shallow beaches. Slush gathers into round shapes, and waves mold them into orbs. You can also find iceballs on beaches in Germany, Russia, and Scandinavia.
Roll the Dice
Imagine playing with a giant dice! One washed up on Lake Coeur d’Alene’s shore in Idaho. Sam Gridley, a local, has seen it before. He claims it’s an old storage tank that landed near his Driftwood Bay property in 2008 and stayed. At one point, someone even drew circles on it to make it look like a dice.
Are You Squidding Me?
Discovering sea creatures at the beach is amazing! One Reddit user found a squid while working on the shore. They mentioned it will grow a 14-feet wingspan in two years. To put it in perspective, in just a couple of years, this octopus will have a bigger wingspan than a Wandering Albatross, the bird with the largest wingspan among all living birds.
Fool’s Gold
Iron pyrite, also known as fool’s gold, looks like real gold but isn’t. The OP found a piece on an English beach, which isn’t surprising considering it’s found in the fossils and rocks of the Jurassic Coast. Did they keep the ammonite for themselves or give it to someone special? Either way, it’s a fantastic beach find!
Only the Best Is Good Enough
Stepping on LEGO bricks hurts, but they’re super popular for unleashing creativity. Ever seen a giant LEGO piece? Dutch artist Ego Leonard creates oversized LEGO figurines found on beaches worldwide since the late 2000s, from Japan to Florida and California.
An Ancient Stone Carving
Dreaming of being Indiana Jones and finding ancient artifacts? Start with the beach! You might stumble upon treasures like this engraved sandstone slab found on the beach at Preminghana, south of Marawah, in 2002.
Harley Davidson
Canadians are famously nice and friendly, and here’s a story that proves it. A Harley Davidson washed ashore on the coast of British Columbia, Canada. It’s believed to have traveled from Miyagi, Northern Japan, solely by the power of the sea. How it survived the journey is a mystery. Nonetheless, the person who found it in Canada tried to locate the owner to return it.
Stacked Stone Arches
Artists turn beaches into playgrounds for creativity. These stone arches found on the beach showcase incredible creativity and balance. The artist, perhaps a budding architect, skillfully balanced many stones on top of one another. Kudos to them for their impressive work!
A Glass Throne
It’s not exactly a throne, but this regal and unique chair found on a black sand beach in Iceland is more than just a seat. It’s one of nature’s masterpieces, created when a chunk of glacial ice was shaped by the sea. Though not the most comfortable, it’s definitely a showpiece worth admiring!
Day Dreamin’
If you love winter but live in a hot beach city, you might daydream about snowy mountains and log cabins. That’s what this sculptor did with their masterpiece found on Jerusalem Beach in Tel Aviv. It’s like a window to a totally different place!
Going Bananas!
In 2007, thousands of bananas washed up on two Dutch North Sea islands: Terschelling and Ameland. Terschelling’s half-mile beach stretch was covered with bunches of bananas. Residents are used to finding various items on their beach, from shoes to briefcases. Fortunately, locals made sure the bananas didn’t go to waste, taking them to the nearest zoo for the monkeys to enjoy.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Who doesn’t love rainbows? Whether in the sky or formed from pebbles on the beach, their colors make us smile. This rainbow, found on Hornsea Beach in the United Kingdom, likely took hours for the artist to collect and arrange the pebbles just right.
