In the series premiere, the Sand Masters team travels to Miami, Florida to build a sand sculpture for the opening night of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and to celebrate P.T. Barnum's 200th birthday. Their 60-ton sculpture featured an acrobat, an elephant, and a motorcycle, and incorporated into the design a surprise firey explosion.
The team travels to Costa Rica to meet their hyperactive client who asks them to create a coffee-themed sand sculpture celebrating the international launch of her local coffee company. While there, they learn to make and serve the perfect cup of coffee and visit a remote coffee plantation, which inspires them to incorporate coffee grinds and a working coffee maker into their sand sculpture.
The team sculpts a centerpiece called "Aspen Snowmass" for the "Sandy Pants Rail Jam", a ski-and-snowboard competition at Buttermilk ski resort in Aspen, Colorado. Their abstract design includes a 30-foot box rail for riders to grind their boards and skies on.
The team celebrates the newest attraction at Legoland in Carlsbad, California by building a Star WarsLego-themed sand sculpture that features giant Lego building blocks and figures in the sand.
The team travels to Waikiki, Hawaii to build an island-theme sand sculpture with colored lights for the world famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel celebrating their $70 million renovation. They create Hawaii's first king and queen (King Kamehameha I and Queen Kaahumanu) out of sand and their summer home of Coconut Grove right on the queen's birthday.
The sculptors head to Domaine Carneros sparkling wine company in Napa Valley, California to build a sand sculpture featuring a giant wine bottle designed to flow Champaign down its sides for a VIP publicity party to unveil their new sparking wine by Taittinger. Before the build, the team samples the wine, learning bottle sabering, and tours the vineyard in a hot air balloon.
The team travels to New Zealand to create a historical sand sculpture the represents the Maori way of life for the "Matariki" (Maori New Year) festival. But in order to get the sculpture approved they must meet with the local tribal elders of Whareroa Marae village to ask for permission to build. Rusty gets a traditional Maori tattoo and the team participates in the Haka warrior dance.
The team heads to Irwindale, California for the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire to build a grand sand castle to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The sky-high sculpture features two huge castles, a maiden, a knight with a battle axe battling a giant dragon that breathes smoke, and the Tudor rose insignia of Queen Elizabeth I.
The team visit Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand, to build a splashy sand sculpture featuring a temple, lotus flowers, giant praying hands, an elephant shooting water from its trunk, and motion-detected sprinklers all celebrating the Songkran water festival of the Thai New Year. They also participate in a massive city-wide water fight and help paint murals in a Buddhist temple.
The team visits Ponce, Puerto Rico to create a massive sand sculpture that features the city's traditions: their flag, lion, landmark firehouse, Parque de Bombas (built in 1883), burying the sardine (to signal end of Carnival), and vejigante (traditional Carnival character that resembles a demon clown) in the Plaza Las Delicias to celebrate the annual Ponce Carnival. They also visit a local mask maker whose been designing masks for generations, but while there Andy gets sick and goes to the hospital for dehydration.
The team heads to Santa Anna, California to build a launch pad sand sculpture for the Discovery Science Center annual soda bottle Boeing rocket-launch event for children. The sculpture features a giant 12 foot rocket launching in front of a massive moon, mission control, and company logo.
The team out does themselves when they design a hollow aquarium sand sculpture for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California to help launch their new exhibit Ocean Science Center, a big world globe. They invite a new sculptor to help out and he defis gravity with his hollowed out 9 foot tall giant jellyfish. Rusty and Sue go scuba diving with all the fish in one of the tanks while the rest of the team play with sea lions and sea otters and swim with sand sharks.
An enormous top-secret sand sculpture is created to help a California surfer propose to his girlfriend.
An imaginative sand sculpture is built to celebrate the 15th birthday of The Crayola Factory discovery center in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Rusty, Kirk and the team are hired by the Navy to create a massive sand sculpture in the center of Times Square in honor of New York City's Fleet Week and to celebrate the centennial of American Naval Aviation.
The Sand Masters get wet and wild in Wisconsin.
Rusty and the Sand Masters are hired by an eccentric hotel owner to help draw a crowd during Key West's annual Fantasy Fest celebration.
Rusty and the sculptors are hired by a legendary rodeo champion to create an enormous sand sculpture for a party at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
A huge, animal-themed sand sculpture is built to promote a new attraction at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Rusty and the sculptors explore the park's sprawling, open-air African exhibits, get intimate with giraffes and hand feed rhinos.
A massive sand sculpture is created to celebrate a muscle boat racing event in Sarasota, Florida.
Rusty and the sculptors are hired to create a massive sand sculpture for a world-class windsurfing and kiteboarding competition in windy Baja, Mexico.
Rusty and the sculptors travel to tropical Fiji to create an elaborate sand sculpture for a firewalking event. Battling unpredictable rain, soft sand and an imposing fire pit, the sculptors must work together to keep their sculpture - and themselves - safe.
Rusty and the sculptors journey to exotic Palau to create a functional shark-themed bar made entirely of sand to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the local shark sanctuary and come face to face with circling sharks while scuba diving.
A huge beer-themed sand sculpture is created for the Kona Brewfest in Hawaii.
Rusty and the sculptors create a gravity-defying sand masterpiece for California's Strongest Man Competition in Huntington Beach.
Rusty and the sculptors create a huge sand sculpture for the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas to honor the 30th anniversary of the legendary monster truck, Grave Digger, and its creator, Dennis Anderson.
A giant sand sculpture is built as a race obstacle in the Southern California Warrior Dash at Lake Elsinore. Charged with creating something massive to slow down the thousands of manic mud runners, Rusty and the sculptors design a towering Viking-themed sculpture.
The Sand Masters sculpt a target for the Southern Ohio Machine Gun Shoot. To draw the fire of the trigger-happy gun enthusiasts at this yearly event in the countryside near the town of Portsmouth, the artists design an explosives-filled shooting gallery.
Rusty and the team are invited to Florida's world-famous Daytona 500 by racing legend Michael Waltrip to create a surprise race-inspired sand sculpture honoring his brother Darrel Waltrip's induction into the NASCAR Hall Of Fame.
