From Canada to Co Kerry - message in a bottle discovered after 12 years at sea

A message in a bottle dropped into the ocean off the coast of Canada 12 years ago has washed up some 2,000 miles away on Scraggane Bay on the coast of Co Kerry this week. 

Members of Creative Ireland Neart na Macharaí, an environmental and cultural group in Maharees, Co Kerry, were cleaning up the beach when they made the unexpected discovery.

"This message in a bottle from Anita and Brad was found by Kate and Jon today on Scraggane Bay!" Maharees Heritage and Conservation said in a social media post on Monday, July 7.

"Such a long way to travel and such a long time to get here but we got it!

"Now if only Anita and Brad would just answer the phone they told us to call them on!!!

"What a coincidence that one of our CreativeIrl Neart na Machairí project community partners finds it, our team opens it together and we connect with another coastal area facing climate impacts!!! Another amazing story in our coastal resilience journey!!"

The day after the big find, Kate Gay and Martha Farrell of Creative Ireland Neart na Macharaí gave an update to Radio Kerry.

Gay said that they did not open the bottle right away on Monday, instead saving it for a project meeting later that evening.

"We opened the bottle together. The bottle opened fine, but getting the message out was quick tricky. We first tried using some chopsticks to pull it out, but it was a little bit damp, so sadly, we had to break the bottle. But then we got the message out and there was a few sentences on a piece of old paper that we read out and couldn't believe."

The letter, dated September 14, 2012, says:

"Anita + Brad's day trip to Bell Island. Today we enjoyed dinner, this bottle of wine, and each other at the edge of the island.

"If you find this, please call us @" and provided their phone number.

After unsuccessfully trying the phone number, the group posted on social media about their find and, amazingly, quickly connected with Anita.

"Within that hour, actually - it was only an hour - we had found, tracked down Anita and Brad, and she messaged me," Farrell told Radio Kerry.

"My first question to her was, are you still together?" Farrell said with a laugh.

Indeed, they are! The couple got married in 2016, and they're still together today.

As it happens, the couple, who are local to Newfoundland, have connections to Ireland as Anita's ancestors were from Co Mayo.