Two messages in a bottle were recently found washed up on a Texas beach, nearly a year after they were written and sent off to sea.
Mission-Aransas Reserve researchers found the bottle during a beach survey, according to an April 4 Facebook post from the nonprofit organization that works to maintain a healthy coastline.
Inside the bottle were two handwritten letters on sheets of binder paper, photos show.
One of the authors identified herself as Madi Whalen, who said she lives in Kansas City, Missouri. She wrote the letter while vacationing in Jamaica with two of her best friends in June 2022, about a month after graduating from high school.
“Today was our last full day here,” she wrote. “I really enjoyed it. It’s nice to have no responsibilities for a while for once. I’m excited to go home and see my family again though.
“I wish I had some good secrets or something to share but I don’t really,” she continued. “I wonder where our letters will end up.”
The second message was written by her friend Easton.
“My two best gals and I are on a holiday in Jamaica and decided to leave a message in a bottle for someone special,” Easton wrote. “I leave for university soon after we get back and I’d like not to. Anyway, I hope someone finds this and it makes their day.”
Mother Dawn Wishard-Whalen said Madi doesn’t have Facebook, but “she is so excited it was found!”
“She is an adventurer and and a nature lover and protector so it couldn’t be more perfect where it was found,” Wishard-Whalen said on Facebook.
Mission-Aransas Reserve said the bottle from Jamaica was one of two bottles they found during the beach survey. Most of the ink used to write the letter in the second bottle had disappeared before it was found.
“We usually find that messages in a bottle that use pencil and in a dark bottle are preserved the best,” the organization said. “Pen fades, especially in a clear bottle.”
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