40 Bizarre And Beautiful Beach Finds We Don’t See Every Day

Oceans cover 71% of our planet. That’s just a common fact, but here is the interesting part: although it covers almost three-quarters of our world, more than 80% of it remains unexplored! That’s how huge it is. As our technologies advance, we can go a little bit deeper, and explore with a keener eye, but we still have a long way to go.

But you don’t need to go to the bottom of the Mariana Trench to find some of the oddities the oceans have to offer. Just a walk along the shore can reveal secrets you never could have imagined. Some are man-made masterpieces, and others are washed in from the deep, blue, sea. Read on to see just a sampling of the strange things people have found at the beach.

A Giant Squid on the beach

Along with his two brothers, this diver was searching the New Zealand coastline for a place to explore in the morning but instead discovered a Giant Squid. It had washed up on the beach, to be discovered by the excited group.

The brothers took photos with the washed-up squid, and the diver in the photo said that the squid dwarfed his brothers in the images, who were actually “big dudes,” according to him. Well, people worry when they see sharks, but seeing that thing in the water would be equally terrifying and marvelous!

That’s pretty strange to be found on the beach!

The person who found this mini-mini bottle of Coca-Cola had taken a day off from work to celebrate his 40th birthday. We must say that it’s a pretty great and rare surprise birthday gift from the ocean! What a neat keepsake.

The person also said that he didn’t know that these bottles even existed in the first place. Well, truth be told, we have seen these little bottles as keychains. It could probably be that someone dropped it, and it got filled with sand and mud over time. 

A unique collection of tracks and footprints 

It looks pretty bizarre at first glance. The person who found it must be so lucky because it is somewhat confusing to imagine a footprint of a human, a dog, and a bird with the tracks of a jeep or a car, all at the same place! It is also a rare sight.

From its looks, it feels like the dog was walking the bird just as the person was walking the dog. The most reasonable explanation is that the vehicles went first, followed by the human, the dog, and the bird (not necessarily all together, but we’d like to imagine so).

Baby octopus on the beach!

The person who posted this image was working on the beach while discovering the little guy. The little octopus looks so cute. It is barely the size of the person’s palm. This is a great photo to compare to the one we saw above!

This critter is a giant pacific octopus. They aren’t so rare to spot, but they rarely get washed up on beaches. Their lifespan is 3-5 years. Fun fact: This palm-sized octopus is going to have a wingspan of more than 14 feet!

That’s a boiled rock

Just kidding. But doesn’t it look like a boiled egg with the yolk peeking out? Only replace the egg with a rock. You can call it a rock in a rock. You can also call it an avocado rock! There are so many ways of looking at this image.

The Redditor said they found this while walking on the beach. Let’s take a moment to appreciate such people who find something perplexing and put it on the internet for others to see. They rock! Get it? This isn’t our last pun, so look out!

Fancy rock

Where are our rock enthusiasts? We’re sure all of you remember finding cool stones and pebbles and keeping a stash of them. The starfish design looks so unique, beautiful, and rare! It almost looks as if somebody designed this purposely.

According to geology (and really biology), what you see above is a cross-section of an ossicle (lower part of the skeleton in invertebrates). These are broken stems of the fossil of Sea Lilies, a Crinoid closely related to the starfish.

What’s this?

It is a piece of a spinal column of a whale that was washed up on a beach. Looking at the image, it could have been a once-in-a-lifetime but pretty smelly experience for the lucky person who took this photo.

There is no meat remaining on the bones, which could mean several things. On second thought, it’s so giant, and if there isn’t any concrete proof of it being a whale, could it be something else? We’ll leave it at that for your imagination!

Watched up at the beach

You are looking at something that washed up on Curracloe Beach in Wexford, Ireland. The person who posted this image and found the equipment said it was all found in a vast cookie tin. It is an entire watch repair kit.

We guess it could be from the 70s or 80s because these watches and tools look pretty old. Wow, just imagine the back story that the repair kit must be carrying within itself, from whichever period it’s from! We wish it could talk.

Jaws

The brother of this poster liked to search for shark teeth on beaches. What you are seeing now is the byproduct of a 6-hour long search at Folly Beach in South California. We applaud the diligence! Not sure we can say we’d do the same.

It is possible to find shark teeth on Folly beach and even other beaches for that reason. The best time to find shark teeth would be during low tide. Consider searching the shoreline right after the tide goes out when the shells and other debris are deposited. That’s your best chance!

That’s a pretty massive discovery at a beach

We are amazed by the marvels of mother nature for carving a stack of pianos in that way. It almost looks like a music video from the 80s. Well, we can’t think of a way these pianos will be stacked on another on a low tide on a beach by themselves.

This photo of pianos was clicked at Blackrock, County Louth, Ireland. According to comments on Reddit, what you are seeing is a promotional stunt by a music shop opposite the beach. There is also a telegraph pole behind these pianos acting as the spine.

Toothless Kite On The Beach

Have you seen the movie How to Train Your Dragon? If you have, you must feel like you have seen this kite before. If you haven’t, let us tell you that this is a dragon named Toothless from the movie.

It is so cool! Whoever is the kite owner must know how to train a dragon. We think that getting one of these must be pretty rare, as such kites would only be available at competitions. Imagine this kite flying straight to you!

An excellent way to use metal detectors on the beach

This happened at a beach in Los Angeles. The magnetic clasp of the poster’s bag attracted metal fragments out of the sand, as you can see in the image below. Look at all those beautiful, glittery fragments! We bet they’re really cool looking under a microscope.

What’s remarkable is that it is a naturally occurring magnet that erodes into sand-sized particles. Those who use metal detectors or other tools to find metal objects at the beach should consider getting this bag. You could find the tiniest of treasures!

Poor puffer

This person found a stranded puffer fish on the shores of a beach. It had passed away by the time he found it. Although that’s a pretty incredible discovery, we pity the poor thing. But, the main question is that how did the fish end up on the shores?

However, we are glad that there is only one washed up on this beach. There have been reports of hundreds of pufferfish getting washed up on shores at once. They are very poisonous, but only when eaten, so don’t be scared if you find one.

P-38

You are looking at the remains of the P-38 Lightning, nicknamed the Maid of Harlech. The P-38 was an American fighter plane that crashed off the coast of Wales during the second world war. This shot is just spectacular.

As of now, it has been given protected status. Fun fact: It is also the first military aircraft crash site in the UK protected for its historical significance. The remains occasionally emerge from the seabed, making it pretty ghostly and easy to view in plane sight!

Snowballs

The person who clicked this image had gone to the beach in Michigan right after it had snowed. As a result, she ended up finding a lot of snowballs floating in the water. All at once, it looks terrifying and beautiful.

Honestly, these snowballs look a lot like eggs. This phenomenon is observed in many lakes and beaches. What happens is that the currents spin the ice balls, which start small, into ice balls of more enormous proportions – like 50-kilogram proportions!

Treasured discovery

This vast box, room, locker, or whatever it is, was found washed up on Dillon Beach in California. It looks regular-sized, but it actually isn’t. It is just the camera angle. FYI, the person sitting on the thing is 5’10”, and no, he was not photoshopped.

According to comments on Reddit, it is a “camel” (not the animal, obviously). It is used as a fender between a ship and a pier or a ship to ship, and is often found washed up on the shores from previous storms.

The sweetest discovery ever

This sweet poster was found at a local dog beach. We probably all wish dogs lived forever. Nonetheless, this human’s initiative for his dog’s memory and the message that he is spreading is simply heartwarming. We think we need to make a trip!

We hope nobody steals these tennis balls. Somebody indeed said two very true things. The first one is that dogs don’t die; they just go to sleep in your heart. The second is that all dogs go to heaven, just like Phoebe!

Perfectly finished sandcastle

Just look at how perfect and symmetrical this sandcastle is. It has been finished as if a real architect is behind all of it! What would you name it if this house was real and you could live in it? If you ask us, we’d call it Dunes!

Because it looks so smooth, we hope it isn’t concrete. We found out that many people in various parts of the world give classes on building sandcastles. Maybe after a few lessons, we could make something this epic. Okay, maybe several lessons.

The most satisfying pebble

The image of this pebble is oddly satisfying. From its texture to its color and shape, everything is perfect. Whoever took this image must be keeping that pebble with them forever. But, considering its size, is it right to call it a pebble?

Or is the hand tiny, thus, making the pebble look huge? Here are some facts. It is a cobble if it is larger than 2.52″ in diameter. It is a coarse pebble if it is between 1.26″ -2.52″ in diameter. So, what do you think about it?

Dry seaweed stuck in the sand created a pretty cool design

This image is of a piece of dried seaweed with one end stuck in the sand. What’s great is the design that is created because it was stuck! It was probably because the piece was rotated by the wind, thus, making the concentric circle pattern!

It is not just a guess from our side because, although a rare occurrence, it is possible. The piece of seaweed above it is also stuck in the sand. But whatever it drew looks pretty clumsy. The center piece clearly has the soul of an artist.

A small lottery

We have one lucky winner here. All the trash inspired the person to do something for his favorite place while participating a challenge. For those who don’t know, these are internet challenges where people clean up littered areas and post pictures of them.

So, there he was, at the local beach, helping to clean it with his girlfriend when he suddenly came across a $50 note. We think it’s karma for doing a good deed. Nonetheless, his prize money, although found amongst garbage, is well-deserved.

A message…

The friend of the person posting this image found a message in a bottle while fishing. It is a pretty heartwarming message written by Mel’s loving family. Read on to know who Mel is and what this note is all about.

That is such a beautiful idea. We are pleased that the person did just as mentioned in the letter by reading it, posting it, and sending it back to the ocean. Where do you think the letter will end up next?

Finding a Pyrite Fossil 

Although it looks like metal, it isn’t. It is a pyrite fossil, also known as fool’s gold. The person who found this beauty was at a beach in England. It has a superficial resemblance with gold and is usually found in the rocks of the Jurassic Coast. 

If the person who found this fossil intends to keep it, he must know a few things. For instance, the fact that pyrite is prone to decay. So, it can be polished beautifully, but sooner or later, it will turn into dust that smells like sulfur when exposed to oxygen!

A heartfelt message

A family found this shell with a message while they were on a Cape Cod beach. The woman who posted this image is looking for the mother who wrote the note on this shell. She also urged users to share the post so that the woman who penned the note would eventually see it.

She wants the mother to know that her son had a lot of fun on the same beach as the mystery woman’s son. Later, she put the shell back in the ocean. This photo was shared over 50,000 times. It shows the power of love, and we are glad that such people exist.

Stoned

These stacked stone arches look great! We imagine the amount of creativity and precision it took for somebody to stack these stones in such a way. Also, it was built on a ledge, of all things. We hope it was left alone for a while.

We also applaud the effort behind this whole thing. Imagine somebody, or a group of people, moving more than thirty huge rocks from one point to another and stacking them in this way. It would be so disappointing if someone knocked it over.

Stone rainbow

That gets a 10/10 for innovation! This rainbow, made out of stones, was found in Hornsea Beach, UK. Our question is that how did somebody get so many rocks and pebbles of seven different colors? They must have spent all day searching.

The cool part is that the shades are so identical. For instance, the seven colors are pretty distinct, but each stone in the yellow layer has the same shade, and the same thing goes with every other color! We wonder how long it took for this masterpiece.

A piece of art

What you are looking at is what was brought to the French shores by a storm. It seems like something that you would see at a huge museum. Although it looks gorgeous, it also seems equally terrifying. We dig it!

You never know; it could be picked up by somebody, get marked as art, and then be sold for a lot of money. However, this image proves one thing. So much of what you see in France is a form of art!

A rather huge discovery

Here is an image of a smiling person with what looks like the skull of a terrifying creature. The skull is almost as big as the guy posing with it. It is definitely not something you would usually find on the beach.

It is probably a part of the skull of a humpback whale, although it looks like the remains of a monster that walked the earth thousands of years ago. How cool would it look if this thing was mounted over a fireplace?

I-ce-kea

Somebody actually discovered a chunk of glacial ice that made a perfect chair on a black sand beach in Iceland. It was the best thing, and then he did the second best thing: he clicked a photo on the chair in style!

How did the chair form in the first place? Or was it carved out of a massive chunk of ice? Honestly, the chances of that are pretty high. The photo would have been a bit uncomfortable for the man right there, considering how cold it would have been to sit on the ice chair.

Sea monster

Often we have heard about huge masses of flesh getting washed up on beaches, but identifying the species becomes quite tricky in this case. This photo is from Seram Island in Indonesia when a huge creature washed up on the shore almost the size of a boat.

Some parts of its body were inflated, and red fluid was dripping from it. Later, scientists explained that it was a type of baleen whale. Its noticeable grooves in its head area and other such features were helpful to identify it. The image is pretty scary, though.

Chunk of…foam?

Hundreds of these odd little fluff balls floated ashore on beaches all over the north of France. They were described as looking like foam, but felt mousse-like. We agree that’s a very interesting description, but the important question is, what were they?

One theory is that they are congealed ship fuel, having solidified when mixed with the cold waters. Scientists also discovered that the foamy substance mixed with other contaminants and that these pieces were unsafe to play with. They spent a long time cleaning it up.

A stranded ship

The title is enough to send chills down the spines. This wrecked ship was found in Zakynthos in Greece. The ship is an MV Panagiotis, which has also been a significant tourist attraction since it washed up on the island shores in Greece back in the 80s.

There are many theories and many debates when it comes to the shipwreck, but one thing is sure. This ship was used for smuggling. It was abandoned when its crew was pursued by the navy when it was going from Albania to Piraeus.

Liver-less sharks

Considering the number of marine crimes that played out on the beaches of South Africa in the months of May and June, this incident was pretty alarming at first. Scientists came across the tattered remains of four great whites. Here is a twist: their livers were missing.

The primary suspects for the scientists were the orca whales. Orcas are known to occasionally prey on great whites and livers, along with other internal organs of these animals, which are apparently a sweet spot (or vulnerable spot) for most predators.

A lot of timber

This image is from a beach in Dorset, England, from January 2008. Huge masses of heavy timber had washed up on the shores of the beach. This incident happened after the MV Ice Prince, a 100m Greek-registered cargo ship, sank. 

Unfortunately, the ship lost around 2,000 tons from a total of about 5,260 tons of timber cargo. However, the rest of it found its way to the beaches of Dorset, like this one. The Worthing Beach was also closed so that the timber could be cleared. Well, that’s a lot of wood lost.

From the darkest depths of the ocean

Don’t jump to conclusions. Let us explain. A deep-sea oarfish that was almost around 13.5ft in length had washed up on Catalina Island, California, in 2015. After this incident, scientists got the long-awaited opportunity to get a closer look at its biology.

Oarfish live in the ocean’s bottom, where there is no light. Therefore, a lot about its anatomy and behavior is not widely known. The scientists got a chance to study it thoroughly, from its skeleton to its muscles and everything else. They then got to know about its ovaries, which are seven feet long.

A blob

A user on Reddit shared photos of what seems to be a lumpy and strange object on a beach in California. The person who captured the image also said that it resembled an organ. Its size is around 5 inches.

It showed many purplish regions on its partly decomposed body with black markings on one side, it had a protruding gut, and a relatively long furrow bisected its body. It was annoyingly difficult to pinpoint what the creature exactly was. According to marine biologists, it could be a sea slug.

Seafoam

This image is from a beach in Queensland, Australia. Truth be told, many unusual things have been seen on the beaches in Queensland, including huge masses of seafoam that wash up at certain times in a year, just like in this image.

These masses of seafoam often appear after storms. They are formed when a lot of dissolved organic matter is churned up in the ocean. Many beaches even had to be closed because of seafoam being whipped up by the crashing waves.

War memorabilia

An unexploded and rusted aerial bomb washed up on a beach in Massachusetts back in 2009. There are numerous practice bombs from World War II, which are still being searched for and found in Chappy and Long Point Wildlife Range.

It is an area that was used by pilots who were training during the conflicts. Looking at the image, it doesn’t even look like a bomb anymore. But, we are thankful that the bomb didn’t explode. Shockingly, another 100-pound photo flash bomb was found in 2017.

Buoy

A large stranded buoy was spotted in South Carolina. It was lying on its side on a stretch of shore on the beach. It is a US Coast Guard buoy, which was probably washed ashore during tropical storm Irma in 2017.

Later on, this buoy was identified as Buoy No.8. It had been carried to the beach for about eight nautical miles by solid waves. The buoy had indeed come a long way because of the high winds and rough waters caused by the storm.

Toothbrushes

Although plastic getting washed up on beaches is common, toothbrushes are a pretty strange thing to be washed up on a beach, and hazardous as well. Yet, let’s take a look. Many worn toothbrushes were found at Genesta Bay in Whitsunday Islands, Queensland.

A skipper from an eco-resort collected these toothbrushes as a part of the clean-up excursions. Looking at all the plastic and other things getting washed up on shores, in a way, points to the fact that many of our natural wonders might have a perilous future.