Beach treasures

People who live in Hawaii might think it’s enough to go the beach, take a dip, ride a few waves, read, maybe go for a jog. Deacon Ritterbush will tell you there’s a lot more if you slow down and glue your eyes to the sand.

A writer, scholar, filmmaker and aid worker, Ritterbush is also a beachcomber, and we’re not talking about someone lying around working on a tan. She’s become the Pied Piper of beachcombing, authoring a well-regarded book ("A Beachcomber’s Odyssey, Vol. I: Treasures from a Collected Past") as well as numerous articles on beachcombing and organizing and lecturing at beachcombing conferences. She’s even known by the monicker "Dr. Beachcomb."

"Beachcombing is really a salve, a balm for the mind," said Ritterbush, who will speak Friday evening at Lemon Grass Cafe. "I always start my lectures by saying, ‘Look, if you’re seriously depressed, I can’t help you, but if you’re just popping a Zoloft every day because you’re a little blue, I can get you off that.’"

Ritterbush "grew up on the beach" in Annapolis, Md., following in the footprints in the sand left by her mother and grandmother, who also were beachcombers. After spending time in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, she came here to study at the University of Hawaii, earning degrees in Pacific island studies and political science, working at the East-West Center and consulting on economic issues for Pacific island nations.

It wasn’t until about 15 years ago, after moving back to Maryland and working on a screenplay, that she fully understood the therapeutic benefits of beachcombing.

"I would go to the beach (along Chesapeake Bay) and mull over some plot points," said Ritterbush, who moved back to Hawaii in December. "I found some old cigarette butts, which turned out to be pipe stems from the 1700s. I was finding china that I traced back to merchant ships. … I got so caught up looking for things that my worries slipped aside."

As a healthful, affordable activity, beachcombing also fits into today’s eco-friendly ethos, Ritterbush said.

"Why I do all this is to help people be willing stewards again, to make them fall in love with nature again," she said. "If you love something you want to take care of it." 

Gayln Akaka, who works in the theater program at Punahou School, went beachcombing with Ritterbush on the North Shore this summer and was astounded at the results. She picked up two marbles, an unusual find.

"We all screamed, it was so exciting," Akaka said. "You just kind of walk along the beach and your eyes focus on different things, and it brings about a whole different awareness of what’s out there."

Beachcombing can also be lucrative. Artists and jewelers will pay big money for "sea glass" — shards of glass that have been tumbled and polished by the surf. Recently, a "Red Orange Cadmium Fiery UV Bottle Bottom" sold for $102 on eBay.

While Ritterbush discusses sea glass collecting in her lectures — she promises to talk about a kind of sea glass peculiar to Hawaii in her lecture Friday — she sees drawbacks to it as well.

"My problem when people go commercial is that it introduces things that are antithetical to the beachcombing movement, which is greed and covetousness, secrecy, competitiveness," she said.

Ritterbush encourages sea-glass collectors to "throw back" some pieces to "let the next person have it."