OCEAN CITY – Three years and more than 3,000 miles later, a message in a bottle has connected a local boy with new friends in Ireland.
Ocean City resident Sasha Yonyak, 14, was contacted this week by a couple in northwestern Ireland after they found a message in a bottle he wrote in 2019.
“I’ve made some new friends in Ireland,” Yonyak said. “It’s like a treasure washing up.”
Belfast residents Rita Simmonds and Ciaran Marron were walking on the beach in Donegal last week when they stumbled upon a glass bottle. Upon noticing it contained a note and two U.S. one-dollar bills, they took it home and let it dry by their fireplace overnight. When they carefully spread open the yellowed piece of paper after removing it from the bottle, they found a 2019 note from an 11-year-old Ocean City boy. The letter described his hobbies as well as his friends and family and asks the finder to call him. “He did such a good job sealing it thoughtfully with clingfilm and what looks like glue,” Simmonds said. “One day hopefully we can meet him in Donegal and show him the beach it landed on.”
Though the number Yonyak listed on the note had been disconnected, Simmonds and Marron, who have a 14-year-old grandson of their own, were able to find Yonyak’s father on Facebook and connected with the family this week. Simmonds said they’d been determined to find him to let him know the bottle had finally reached shore.
“All our friends and family want to know the kid who threw the bottle in the ocean,” Simmonds said. “He’s already a celebrity here.”
Cute story something nice amidst all the drama.
There are far too few stories like this anymore.
Should be fined for littering.