Posted on 05/30/2025 1:10:53 PM PDT by MtnClimber
BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. — A tiny bottle with a message inside traveled from Hawaii in ocean currents before being washed ashore in Bradenton Beach on Sunday and found by a girl visiting from Michigan.
“It was in this tiny little glass bottle with cute little origami birds,” said Paris Hoisington, 31. “She was so surprised. Came running right towards me on the beach.”
Hoisington said it’s every kid’s dream to find a message in a bottle at the beach. Her daughter, Josie Law, 11, said at first she thought it was a piece of trash floating in the water.
“Then I saw the note inside,” she said. “I was like, let me grab this. This is cool.”
The note inside the tiny bottle reads: ‘Hello people who found this, you will be happy that you found this. Why? Cause you will know me with this number.’
Hoisington said she texted the phone number and got a response.
“’My brother and I made that when I was younger,’” she said the text read. “’We actually live in Hawaii.’ And I said, ‘You’re kidding.’”
Payton Hollenbeck, 21, said she and her younger brother Elias, tossed that message in a bottle into the ocean at Kaena Point in Oahu 8 years ago. It travelled more than 4,600 miles before reaching the Florida shoreline.
“To think of how many bodies of water it went through,” said Hoisington. “It’s truly amazing what little tiny objects can go places in the world and connect to people from each other side of the world.”
The Michigan mom said the family had already planned to release 3 bottles before returning home and hope to get a response someday.
“We left our phone number on one,” Hoisington said. “We can’t wait to see what happens.”
Hollenbeck said she’s familiar with that cycle because the only reason she threw a message in a bottle into the ocean is because she had previously found one as a kid.
I call BS on this fiction.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had their training camp in Bradenton....probably still do...aaargh!
As a kid, I read the book. I was fascinated and wondered if it was true. It actually started my interest in reading. Movie was ok...but, the simple book inspired me.
That's not impossible, but I think there's a much greater probability that someone would post a made-up story on the internet. With photos, even.
More likely they visited fla and put the message in the bottle there.
How long does the internal battery last on an airtag?
Especially from an 11 or 12 year old kid
Typically one year. Some users have gotten up to two years with minimal use. Harsh conditions such as cold shorten life.
Wouldn’t it be cool if the bottle washed up on a shore within a year and the tag identified it’s location?
The cynicism on this thread is kind of sad. This was on our local news in Florida and the woman and the child who were interviewed after their find seemed genuine to me. They were very sweet.
Other posters have pointed out that the bottle is too clean for being in the ocean that long and that the ocean currents don't favor the story. It's convenient that an 8 year old phone number still works too.
We'll see. It is a nice story if it's true.
I’ve had the same number for over eight years on my tracfones.🤔
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