SOUTH ADDISON, Maine — During a recent island cleanup held in collaboration with the Maine Island Trail Association, volunteers picking up trash on Tibbett Island off the Washington County community of South Addison discovered a message in a bottle.
The bottle was caught under a large spruce tree with other debris. The note, from a young girl named Taryn, was dispatched to the the ocean in July 2000.
The note reads: “My name is Taryn and I’m 3 years old. I live in Welland, Ontario and spent my 1st real vacation in New Brunswick. I really loved seeing the ocean, but it was very cold so I couldn’t swim in it. I really liked collecting shells and pretty rocks off of the beach. I saw whales and seals. I had so much fun. I hope you like my letter. See ya!”
Becky Lee, Downeast Coastal Conservancy’s membership coordinator, found the note. She suspects young Taryn had help from her mom or dad in writing the note.
“I was really excited to find the note, and was even more surprised to see that the note was from 2000,” she said. “It makes me wonder about the journey the bottle took from New Brunswick. Taryn is now 15. I’d really like to find her and let her know that we found her note.”
Downeast Coastal Conservancy sponsors several beach cleanups every year.
Even after 12 years in the ocean, the clear plastic soda bottle that contained the note was in perfect condition.
I was hoping it was a note from one of my kids that was found. They used to do this in that area all the time; absolutely loved the idea of notes in a bottle.
I know that it’s probably wrong in some way, but I’ve always had this small part of me that wanted to read an article like this and find that the person whose name and address were in the bottle was fined for littering.
It’s obviously very cool that someone found the note 12 years later, but I think that the fact that the plastic bottle was in perfect condition after all those years is further proof that we need to be diligent with our recycling and clean-up efforts. Kudos to the Downeast Coastal Conservancy for their efforts.
Yeah, I was more concerned with the 12 year old plastic bottle,too! Of course, we have glass bottles, in almost perfect condition, found in sea wrecks, over 2500 years old. Plastic will not last that long, but we should never let this petroleum product into our waterways, it breaks down in ways that changes the entire ecosystem, destroying everything from bacteria, microbes, various other small celled animals and plants, and small parts of it gets eaten by fish, birds, etc. all the way up the chain. No more plastic bottles without a $1 return fee per bottle. Glass is much less toxic over 2500 years.
David, I agree with you. Plastic grocery bags do not deteriate either. They break down until they are not visible to the naked eye but they still remain in the environment as plastic molecules, which never break down. “Little beards” on women is the least of our issues.
South Addison, Maine is only about 50-250 miles from any part of the coastline in New Brunswick, Canada… this bottle didn’t travel that far, really. Now, if this bottle had traveled from Australia, New Zealand, even the Falkland Islands, or even Bermuda, I would be impressed. The “wash-out” from the large bay area between New Brunswick/Nova Scotia and the Atlantic ocean… this story would mean more if the bottle had been found on Cape Cod, on Long Island, or better still, in the UK.
I’m in the UK! I’ll keep looking.
I’ll run down to the store and buy a couple of six packs, jot down some letters to you and chuck them in the ocean. Please write back ASAP.
Sincerely,
Waiting by the shore
Just publish the story in the Welland, Ontario newspaper and the owner will likely come forward.
Find the girl and cite her for littering!
I do believe that a child who is three, leaving a charming tale of her visit, reminding us adults how nice it is to visit the ocean, is not an appropriate format for encouraging litigation. You are a strange little minded person.
What if her older brother set her up!
Sending out an S.O.S…Sending out an S.O.S.
Great song!
what an awesome story!
OM G this is my friends dughter :) :) :) this is so cool i just did thisd with my two and three year old so hopefully sometime down the road we have the same experience