31 Saturday Dec 2016
Posted in Friendship, message in a bottle
Rebecca Whittaker discovered a note in a bottle while walking along Widemouth Bay on November 16th, 2016. After posting a photo of the message online, she connected with the 12 year old sender, Ciara, from Ireland.
Ciara’s Message in a Bottle
Ciara then sent Rebecca a card wishing her Continue reading
18 Saturday Jul 2015
Tags
adventure, beachcomb, beachcombing, Clint Buffington, europe, Flaschenpost, message in a bottle, MIB, travel
As I write this, I sit in Heathrow airport in London, having just arrived from Chicago (this will be posted later). I’m on the first leg of a journey to meet the senders of messages in bottles, and hopefully to make new friends. I’m surrounded by strangers, and yet, I can’t shake the feeling that there must be invisible connections between us we are simply not aware of. Maybe someone near me has visited my hometown, or maybe they know one of my friends. Heck, I may actually know someone here!
Continue reading
07 Tuesday Jan 2014
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, Friendship, message in a bottle, Romance, Travel
Tags
adventure, Asheville, beachcombing, Clint Buffington, freeland, how to open a message in a bottle, maggie valley, message in a bottle, north carolina, The Nordic Empress, Tina Fey
After learning everything I learned in the last post, I knew I had to meet Phil in person. So, one day in August 2011, I loaded up the car and headed to Maggie Valley.
The night before I hit the road, I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about everything I wanted to ask him and tell him, wondering whether we would really get along, and wondering–on the scale of crazy–just how crazy it was that I was about to walk into the home, the actual dwelling place, of a complete stranger… Is that, like, really really crazy? Or just a little crazy?
In any case, I went.
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.
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…
23 Friday Sep 2011
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, message in a bottle, Travel, weird news
Tags
adventure, advertising, beachcombing, beer, Caribbean, Clint Buffington, Guinness, history, message in a bottle, travel
Friends and neighbors, imagine my surprise when I found a message in a bottle from my favorite beer company, Guinness!
Check it out:
07 Wednesday Sep 2011
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, Breaking a bottle, Love, message in a bottle, Romance, Travel
Tags
adventure, beachcombing, Clint Buffington, daydreaming, humor, illustration, message in a bottle, romance, stick figure, travel
Finding a message in a bottle is fun!
It’s also extremely addicting. And when I’m landlocked and working, and my mind wanders back to the beach, and to bottles shining in sunlight–
I start getting a little batty! The unopened bottles in my home become the tell-tale hearts of my life, always pulsing in their cardboard box, hijacking my concentration. I stare at them and want to open them and yes, yes, their time will come!
But I have to be extremely careful. The papers inside are the only links I have to the senders, soon to be (hopefully!) my friends. Each one is priceless, each brittle paper. So I wait until the time is right for each bottle, wait till I have time and a quiet day stretching out before me, when I can gather the tools and supplies I need. And then, the bottles know: there is no escape!
27 Saturday Aug 2011
Tags
adventure, Art, art in a bottle, artist, beachcombing, Clint Buffington, cruise, Inspiration, John Piper, mesage in a bottle, plastic bottle, romance, travel
Three pencil sketches in a bottle I found washed ashore in the Caribbean in 2008.
That night, after my mom had taken the drawings out of the bottle, we passed them around, speculating. Was this the work of a famous artist we weren’t familiar with? Did we hold priceless treasure in our hands, the flippant gesture of an artist bored at sea? What was this?!
I emailed John the very night I got home.
Dear Mr. Piper,
We are strangers to each other, or were, but you should know this: I found your pencil sketches—the ones you put in a big plastic bottle and tossed in the sea!
Two hour later, he wrote back to me!
What an amazing thing to happen. It has been drifting around since November 2006! When I threw it over the side of P & O cruise ship Oceana, (but then you might know that already, I can’t really remember what I put on the notes? It was only a bit of fun and just a very long shot). I had no idea where it would end up; probably swallowed by some passing whale perhaps? So where on earth did you find it? I am so totally overcome by this event.
I live in Exeter, in the County of Devon, in the South West of England. I am retired and painting and writing full time.
John Piper in the Caribbean in 2007
17 Wednesday Aug 2011
Posted in Adventure, archives of the sea, message in a bottle, plastic, Romance, Travel
Tags
adventure, Art, beachcombing, Caribbean, Clint Buffington, John Piper, message in a bottle, ocean, romance, travel
One crazy day in 2008, I found two messages in bottles on an uninhabited Caribbean island.
I’ve already told the story of the message on the right, which was from a woman named Janet.
But the one on the left is a different story…
I found it jammed under a rock ledge on a section of rocky coast. This is how rocky the coast was. Like my high socks?
09 Tuesday Aug 2011
