Bottled Message Reaches France, Returned 23 Years Later

A bottle note made it all the way to France and was returned this week

You ever wonder what would happen if you just tossed a note in the ocean and see what happened?

Well, it might shock you, but eventually someone will find it, albeit decades later.

A message in a bottle tossed into the Atlantic Ocean by a young Florida camper during a 1987 field trip was returned this week, some 23 years after it was cast away.

Judy Kissel, an early childhood and camp director at the Soref Jewish Community Center in Plantation, says the note was returned
by mail from a man in France on Wednesday.

That means the bottle floated about 4,600 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, give or a take a few stops along the way. In essence, the bottle is officially a world traveler.

During a 1987 field trip to Port Everglades, several dozen children from the community center tossed messages in bottles into the ocean. In the years since, letters have been returned from Maine to London.

Kissel, who worked at the center at the time, says a letter included with a copy of the original note says the bottle was found in 1995 at a beach near a hospital in Bourdeaux, France.

It's unclear which camper sent the note, as his or her name is now blurred out.

But at least now you know that if you are stranded on a deserted island, the bottle thing might be a viable option. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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