An Ocean Not So Far Away - Message in a Bottle Reaffirms a Small World
Finding a message in a bottle can be a once-in-a-lifetime find for a beachcomber. While these gifts from the sea can reveal valuable information about ocean currents with their astonishing distances traveled, rarely do they reveal much more than that beyond a simple unnamed message from the sender. For Jace Tunnell, Director for Community Engagement at HRI, beachcombing is all part of the job, meaning he has encountered numerous bottled messages over the years. While they’re still exciting, one of these bottles recently provided much more of a connection than Tunnell imagined.
In April 2020, an 11-year-old girl from France was sailing around the world with her parents and two siblings when she threw a message in a bottle into the ocean off the coast of Brazil toward the end of their journey. A year and a half later, in late 2021, Tunnell found it on one of his weekly beach surveys around Port Aransas, Texas, for his “Beachcombing” video series. During its year and a half afloat for almost 10,000 miles, the bottle traveled throughout the South Atlantic Ocean, around South America, navigated islands in the Caribbean Sea, then caught the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico to wash up on a south Texas beach finally.
Tunnell has found more than 30 messages in a bottle over the years of conducting beach surveys, but in this particular instance, he decided to film everything about its discovery and create a documentary on the process of connecting with the person who first threw it in the ocean. The clear bottle was found at the water’s edge and appeared to have a single piece of paper in it. Once at home, Tunnell opened the bottle and the paper easily slipped out, which is not typical for most as they usually require a bit of work to get out. The letter was rolled tightly and tied with a string. Both ends of the letter were squeezed at the end, likely to keep the paper from expanding and making it easier to extract. Once the paper was out, Tunnell unrolled it and it became apparent that there were two letters taped together, one with writing in French and the other with a drawing of the world, including images of whales, the equator, and bottles.
Tunnell was able to find someone who spoke French to translate the letter and share key information like when the letter was written, where it was thrown into the ocean, and who wrote it. As the story unfolded, Tunnell learned about Elora, the 11-year-old girl who threw the bottle into the ocean as she and her family crossed the equator on their way home to France.
In 2022, Tunnell wrote a letter back to Elora, telling her how he found the bottle on the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico and about the video he made of the experience. A month later, he received a letter postmarked from France. It was from Elora sharing where they live in France, with some photos of their town and her family, and a map of their adventures around the world. Again, in return, Tunnell wrote her back with photos of his own family and a description of Corpus Christi, Texas, where he lives.
That was the last communication Tunnell and Elora had with each other until February 2024, when Tunnell attended a scientific conference in Tampa, Florida, where he was giving a presentation about his “Beachcombing” program. In the presentation, he spoke about the odd items he has found over the years, including the many messages in bottles. He discussed one in particular during the presentation —Elora’s bottle. After the presentation, another scientist in the audience, Ombretta, introduced herself to Tunnell and said she knew the family who threw that bottle in the ocean and that she grew up with Elora’s mother. After messaging further with each other, Ombretta confirmed it was Elora who threw that bottle in on her trip in 2020.
After almost four years since the bottle was tossed in the ocean off the coast of Brazil by Elora, it made it to the Texas coast, appeared in two videos, established a friendship with three families between France and Texas, and connected scientists from across two oceans. Thanks to Elora and Tunnell, one classic message in a bottle again shows just how the ocean currents connect our world.