Finding a message in a bottle is a very neat experience, especially if it comes from a faraway land and the sender wants you to correspond with them.

In the last 20 years, Sue and John Eyre have launched more than 50 bottles with messages within them in different parts of the world. Each message includes the couple’s name and address in Brown Deer near Milwaukee in the state of Wisconsin. They have received responses from 12 people who have found their bottles and messages floating across the world.

According to a report published by Meg Jones of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, it all started when Sue and John were enjoying a cruise in the Caribbean and polished off a bottle of champagne near Saint Martin. That champagne bottle was their first attempt at message-in-a-bottle correspondence, and it was successful. A woman from Mayaguana, the most easterly island in the Bahamas, found that pioneering bottle and invited Sue and John to visit their sleepy town. Finding Sue and John’s bottled message was a significant event in the otherwise idyllic island, and the townsfolk were eager to meet the bottle messengers.

The Method of Bottling Messages

Just as there are certain features that make online social networks like Facebook and Twitter functional and significant, there is a method that John Eyre follows to encourage responses from the lucky finders. Aside from the handwritten notes and return addresses, John takes a handheld GPS reading of each bottle, as well as the date and time. A dollar bill is put into every bottle, and a promise of $20 for those who respond.

According to the Eyres, the only respondent who has specifically asked for the $20 was an unemployed man from Nicaragua. That bottle in particular traveled a long way, from Aruba to Nicaragua. Bottles have been found in different places in the Caribbean, a favorite cruise spot for Sue and John. Some have been found in islands from the United States, namely the Virgin Islands and Jupiter Island in Florida. A bottle was found in the massive Yangtze River in China, and one was found right here in Costa Rica.

The practice of putting messages in bottles dates back to Ancient Greece. The British Royal Navy used it as a method of intelligence transmission to report on enemy ships in the 16th century.

A group of 25 illegal would-be immigrants to the United States stranded in the Pacific was rescued thanks to a message in a bottle. The incident occurred in 2005 near Costa Rica’s Isla del Coco National Park. The Ministry of the Environment (MINAET) and the MarViva environmental protection group were involved in the rescue.