The other day I was out spearfishing in an undisclosed location of New Jersey.  (Somewhere on the Northern Tip of Barnegat Light)  I was out hunting around for a big 19+” black fish, a massive doormat of a fluke, or even the elusive triggerfish.  As I was diving down I was taking note of how beautiful everything was around me.  The day was just gorgeous, the sun was out, and the water was clear.  Yes I know.  I am talking about New Jersey water.  It can be clear people!  Since I have my clamming license, I always bring a mesh bag with me and collect some mussels along the way. My wife, Tiffany, can cook up some mean Mussels Marinara and boy do we enjoy that!  I took a dive down and ended up grabbing some really nice sized mussels.  On my way up I noticed a small water bottle floating along with me.  At first I didn’t pay it much attention, but then I thought, “come on, what is with people and throwing their garbage into the water?  I guess I’ll fish it out and recycle it.”  As I swam nearer to it, I noticed that inside the bottle was a neatly rolled up piece of paper, a few pebbles and some sand.  I stuffed it in the top of my wetsuit and didn’t think much more about it.

When I got home I told the kids what I had found and we opened the bottle together and read the message.  Here’s what it said:

I’ve never found a message in a bottle before.  Have you?  When I think about a message in a bottle I think about two movie’s, Message in a bottle starring Kevin Costner, and An American Tale.  Clearly I’m revealing my age.  Remember when Fievel Mousekewitz falls off the boat and ends up being washed around in the bottle?

I’ll be honest, I was a little dissapointed by the contents of the message.  I was at least hoping to find out that I was going to be the reason someone was rescued off a far off island, or maybe it would be an ancient love letter, or who knows.  But alas, I didn’t.

So, what would you write?  What would your message in a bottle be?  Let’s imagine together you are stuck on an island and this is it.  You have one piece of paper and one bottle left.  What message would be so important that you had to write it down and cast it into the ocean?

Let’s hear em!

~Peter