03 Tuesday Dec 2013
Tags
adventure, Asheville, beachcombing, business card in a bottle, Clint Buffington, Cocoa Beach, cypress gardens, Grenelefe, illustration, John E Freeland, Long Island, message in a bottle, message in a bottle hunter, ocean currents, Phil Freeland, romance, stick figure, travel, winter haven
No one answered my phone call. I was jittery before I tried the number—I always get a little shaky when I’m on the verge of finding a sender.
Maybe it’s the coffee. I am, admittedly, an addict.
18 Monday Nov 2013
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, Friendship, message in a bottle, Travel
Tags
beachcombing, bottle, business card, Canada Dry, Clint Buffington, cypress gardens, John E Freeland, message in a bottle, old message in a bottle, winter haven
May 21st, 2011. The sun is blinding. Even the wind coming off the ocean is hot. My mom and I stand blinking in the sun beside a rusty green truck that looks dead parked by a small beach.
We have come here for beachcombing, so we wander down to the shore. After just a few minutes of walking, we decide to pack it up because there doesn’t seem to be much here other than trash and incredible heat. Mom heads straight back to the truck, and I say I’ll be there in a minute. We had planned to cover half the beach, but, being obsessed with covering every square inch of sand, I decide to walk the last 50-yard stretch we haven’t seen yet. Here’s what it would have looked like to watch us from above:
Mom and I take slightly different paths back to the truck, which happens to look like a race car in this bird’s eye rendering.
02 Thursday Feb 2012
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, Friendship, message in a bottle, Mystery Message
Tags
beachcombing, Clint Buffington, Flaschenpost, Gripsholm, message in a bottle, mystery message, Saga Cruises, Saga fjord, Sagafjord, thanks internet, Vista Fjord, Vistafjord
I found this message in a bottle in May of 2007:
Cryptic, isn’t it? No date, no contact information.
24 Monday Oct 2011
Posted in Adventure, Breaking a bottle, message in a bottle, Science
Tags
bottle, breaking glass, Clint Buffington, cracking velocity of glass, glass, Glass Fracture Velocity, illustration, message in a bottle, shattering glass, speed of cracks in glass, stick figure
Here’s a random fact: cracks don’t form instantaneously in glass as it shatters, despite what it looks like.
In fact, I’ve learned Continue reading
18 Tuesday Oct 2011
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, message in a bottle, Mystery Message, weird news
Tags
beachcombing, Clint Buffington, dollar bill message, free mason, Livingston Taylor The Dollar Bill Song, message in a bottle, message on a dollar bill, mystery message, secret message dollar bill
Aside from messages, I have found many things in bottles. Once, I found 4 used and rolled up tubes of super glue rattling around in an empty plastic bottle. One day I found a receipt from hardware store in Puerto Rico in a bottle. And one of my favorites was a toothbrush—brand new—that fit perfectly inside a plastic sports drink bottle. Was this an improvised carrying case? Or…did I miss something? Was there scrimshaw on the toothbrush?!
Among the fascinating and inscrutable “messages” I’ve found is this dollar bill:
07 Friday Oct 2011
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, message in a bottle, Romance, Travel, weird news
Tags
adventure, beachcombing, Caribbean, Clint Buffington, Godzilla, Guinness, history, humor, illustration, Inspiration, message in a bottle, Neptune, Ovaltine, scroll, stick figure, travel
In 1959, something bizarre and completely unprecedented happened in the Atlantic ocean.
I know what you’re thinking: Godzilla sighting…
