Boy, girl become friends after message in bottle
By AP
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii - A 10-year-old Oregon boy scribbled a note on binder paper, stuck it into a bottle and tossed it into the ocean. A year later and nearly 3000 km away, a 9-year-old girl exploring a Hawaii shoreline found the bottle floating in a tide pool.
Since then, the two children have been exchanging emails and plan to become pen pals, West Hawaii Today reported.
Thomas Craig, now 11, of Silverton Ore., told the newspaper he hadn't thought much about his message in the bottle he threw into Winchester Bay during a family fishing trip until he recently received an email from Trinity Ballesteros, of Kailua-Kona.
"I couldn't believe someone had found it. I was shocked," he said. "When I threw it overboard, it hit the top of my grandpa's boat so I thought it broke and sank. The chances of someone finding it seemed like a once-in-a-million type thing."
Trinity was beachcombing along the shore in front of the Queen Liliuokalani Children's Center in Kailua-Kona when she spotted the old fashioned-looking bottle.
"My first thought was what if someone is really in trouble and they're sending out an SOS," she said. "Would I even be able to help? Were they lost at sea or stuck on a deserted island? Were they even in Hawaii?"
Surrounded by friends and family, Trinity opened the bottle and found the letter, which read, "Dear finder of my message, My name is Thomas and I live in Oregon. I'm ten years old and this week I'm salmon fishing deep in the ocean. I would like to hear from you."
Thomas asked for a response and included his mother's email address. Because the email address was difficult to make out, Trinity, with help from her grandfather and parents, sent a message to several different email addresses about two weeks ago.
By AP
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii - A 10-year-old Oregon boy scribbled a note on binder paper, stuck it into a bottle and tossed it into the ocean. A year later and nearly 3000 km away, a 9-year-old girl exploring a Hawaii shoreline found the bottle floating in a tide pool.
Since then, the two children have been exchanging emails and plan to become pen pals, West Hawaii Today reported.
Thomas Craig, now 11, of Silverton Ore., told the newspaper he hadn't thought much about his message in the bottle he threw into Winchester Bay during a family fishing trip until he recently received an email from Trinity Ballesteros, of Kailua-Kona.
"I couldn't believe someone had found it. I was shocked," he said. "When I threw it overboard, it hit the top of my grandpa's boat so I thought it broke and sank. The chances of someone finding it seemed like a once-in-a-million type thing."
Trinity was beachcombing along the shore in front of the Queen Liliuokalani Children's Center in Kailua-Kona when she spotted the old fashioned-looking bottle.
"My first thought was what if someone is really in trouble and they're sending out an SOS," she said. "Would I even be able to help? Were they lost at sea or stuck on a deserted island? Were they even in Hawaii?"
Surrounded by friends and family, Trinity opened the bottle and found the letter, which read, "Dear finder of my message, My name is Thomas and I live in Oregon. I'm ten years old and this week I'm salmon fishing deep in the ocean. I would like to hear from you."
Thomas asked for a response and included his mother's email address. Because the email address was difficult to make out, Trinity, with help from her grandfather and parents, sent a message to several different email addresses about two weeks ago.