Davenport is located about 10 miles north of Santa Cruz in northern California.
It's a cozy beach town with loads of charm. If you love victorian and craftman homes you're in luck as many homes in town are over one hundred years old.
The town has several stunning beaches that are frequently photographed, especially at sunset. This area really is a photographers dream, however the main Davenport Beach is my favorite.
Why is there sea glass at Davenport?
Davenport is well known for its beautiful art sea glass.
There was a heavy rainstorm in the 1970s that caused the San Vicente Creek to overflow, washing away bins of waste glass from behind Lundberg Studio.
Founded in 1970 by James Lundberg, the studio is world famous for producing top quality glassware. It's well worth visiting the studio to discover what your piece looked like before it was surf tumbled.
How to get to Davenport
Davenport Beach is located on Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) directly across the street from Roadhouse Inn Restaurant and Bar.
Roadhouse Inn is a great place to stop for lunch after hours of sea glass hunting. They have good food, excellent pastries and coffee. You can also peruse a small selection of local hand made goods.
Perhaps most importantly though, you will find a lovely bathroom!
Park up in the dirt lot at Ocean Street on the opposite side to Roadhouse Inn. Get there early though as it tends to fill up later in the day, even in rainy weather.
Getting down to the beach
Once you have parked up, head to the south-west corner of the parking lot and you'll see these natural rock steps. Make sure you bring shoes or boots with plenty of grip and take your time making your way down.
You will then cross the abandoned rail road tracks.
And follow the path towards the beach.
You will soon see Davenport beach in all its glory and that's when the excitement will really kick in!
This is the last set of natural stone steps to clamber down.
Here I am hunting for sea glass on Davenport beach.
Digging for sea glass
Many sea glass hunters take a shovel along so that they can dig down into the sand at low tide. It's hard work, but you will be amazed at some of the incredible sea glass which gets dug up. This is definitely the safest way to collect top quality sea glass at Davenport.
As you can see in the video below, high tide is extremely dangerous.
Many of the high tide sea glass hunters wear wet suits and are prepared to get knocked off their feet by the strong currents. With powerful waves pushing you towards rocks, you don't need me to tell you to be extremely careful. However, incredible sea glass quite literally washes up at your feet!
Other things to see in Davenport
There are two art galleries which is astonishing for such a small town! There is also a historical jail house, built in 1914, which was in use up until 1936.
My favorite find, however, was the abandoned pier which was built by the Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company.
Thanks to that flash flood, Davenport has some of the best sea glass in the world. No wonder it's so popular with sea glass collectors from all corners of the planet!
