A four-year-old boy is now pen pals with a woman 4,000 miles away after she replied to his message-in-a-bottle.
Ford Thomas cast his letter into the sea which included his dad Joe’s email address. He also included a couple of drawings, a rock he’d found on the beach, and a photo of himself.
The family from Essex, England, was vacationing in Barbados when they paddled out into the North Atlantic Ocean with Ford and his bottle on March 7.
Dad Joe said the chances of getting a response were just three percent, but to their surprise, they received an email.
“After he threw his message into the sea, I looked online and saw that there was around a 3% chance of it being found.
“I also looked at the currents and figured out that if it missed St Lucia, it could’ve ended up being taken towards Portugal and Morocco.”
The family put the message-in-a-bottle out of their minds until nine days later, when Joe received a sweet email that began:
“Hi there, Ford. You look handsome and I love your stone, as well as your colored picture. My name is Zaina and I am from the breathtaking island of St Lucia.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” Joe told the SWNS news agency. “When I told Ford, he was just so excited and put his hands over his mouth in disbelief. He then asked me if we needed to send another bottle back!”
Zaina’s email answered all of the four-year-old’s questions. She told him her hobbies were reading, cooking, and coloring, and that she had 4 dogs and 8 cats. And she revealed her favorite Disney movie was “the princess and the frog”.
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The family, now back home in the UK, has started corresponding back-and-forth via email about things they have in common. Since Joe’s father owns a home in Barbados, who knows when they might travel further to meet their new friend Zaina on her beautiful island.
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“My wife and I talked about how it doesn’t matter what creed, class, or place you’re from, the joy of finding a message-in-a-bottle is universal.”
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