Two friends from Canada are set to pay a visit to Ireland next summer after a young boy from Waterford discovered a message that they had sent in a bottle from Canada eight years ago.
The girls, who are now aged 20, threw a two-litre 7Up bottle into the waters of the St Lawrence River in Canada back in 2004. And it was Oisin Millea, aged 10, who recently discovered it in the waters at Passage East in county Waterford.
“He’s always searching for bits of treasure and that was treasure for him,” said Aoife Millea, Oisin’s mammy.
When Oisin opened the bottle he discovered a message written in French, which said:
“Hello, we are two girls who had the idea to launch a bottle into the sea. We are called Charlaine and Claudia. We are both 12 and we live in Montreal. We are on vacation in the Gaspesie, in the village of Grande Vallee … If you find our bottle, tell us when and how you found our bottle.”
Passage East, where Oisin found the message in the bottle
The girls had included an e-mail address, but it was no longer in service. The Montreal Gazette published a story from the Irish Examiner about Oisin’s find with a note asking for anyone with information about the two girls to get in touch with them.
As luck would have it, one of Charlaine’s friends saw the story and contacted her on Facebook.
“When I put the bottle in the water I never thought someone would find it,” said Charlaine, speaking last night.
“When I saw the picture, I remembered it like it was yesterday. The boy seems so excited about the bottle, I’d really love to go to Ireland to meet him,” said Claudia.
The women’s wish to visit Oisin was granted last night when Tourism Ireland invited them to our shores for a week-long, expenses paid trip for The Gathering next summer.
