That bottle travelled much farther than 4,600 miles unless it came through the Panama Canal, which I doubt. It had to come through the Strait of Magellan or across the arctic.
Kid from Hawaii, vacationed in Florida. My guess.
Traveled overland in a great circle route through Mexico and Texas.
The ignorance of journalists is exceeded only by their sloth.
Maybe it went west south of Australia and Africa and then north in the Atlantic. But I don’t know if currents would enable that to happen.
The bottle most likely got picked up in the ballast water of a ship in Hawaii and dumped into the water in Florida when the ship put in a port call. Neither the glass nor the paper look like they've been exposed to 8 years of sunlight so it's likely been sitting in the ship's ballast tank the whole time.
From Wikipedia:"Cruise ships, large tankers, and bulk cargo carriers use a tremendous amount of ballast water, which is often taken on in the coastal waters in one region after ships discharge wastewater or unload cargo, and discharged at the next port of call, wherever more cargo is loaded."
I’m guessing it did go thru the canal...otherwise it would be closer to 14k and longer than 8 years.