Message in a bottle, from Quebec to Waterford

A 10-year-old Irish boy has found a message in a bottle, which was put into the St. Lawrence River in Quebec back in 2004. Oisín Milea, from Waterford, Ireland, found the plastic bottle on the strand in his home village of Passage East, having been blown up on the sand following high tides and strong winds. Inside was a note written in French from two 12-year old girls, Charlene and Claudia with an e-mail address, which is apparently no longer in use. The girls wrote that they were from Montreal, but were on holiday in Gaspesie in Quebec when they decided to put a message in a bottle. Surprisingly the bottle made a 4,000 km journey out of the estuary, past Newfoundland, across the Atlantic, up the Suir estuary before being washed up in Passage East in Co. Waterford. “Tourism Ireland was excited to hear about this story and would like to try and find the girls, now 20-year-old women, and let them know their message made it all the way to Ireland,”says Jayne Shackleford, manager of Tourism Ireland. “If you think you know who Charlene and Claudia are please have them contact the Tourism Ireland office in Toronto through our Facebook page, facebook.com/DiscoverIrelandCA or Tweet us at twitter.com/GoToIrelandCA. “Next year Ireland is hosting the Gathering Ireland 2013, a year-long celebration of all things Irish – its people, its unique culture, heritage and rich history. It’s a year when the people of Ireland will throw open their arms and invite anyone who feels a connection to Ireland to come home and visit in 2013. This is the perfect year for these two Quebec ladies to visit Ireland and Co. Waterford to see where their bottle landed.”