A message in a bottle that spent nearly 13 years traversing the Atlantic Ocean has washed up on the shores of Co Kerry.
The note, encapsulated by a couple during a date on Bell Island, Newfoundland in September 2012, was discovered on a clean-up at Scraggane Bay, in the Magharees.
It travelled over 3,000 kilometres, during which time Barack Obama finished out his first and later a second term in office, followed by a term each for Donald Trump and Joe Biden, a worldwide pandemic and Mr Trump subsequently returned to office.
The handwritten message, posted in a wine bottle on 14 September, reads: "Antia and Brad day trip to Bell Island today, we enjoyed dinner, this bottle of wine and each other, at the edge of the island."
It implores whoever finds the bottle to "please call us" on the number provided.
After 4,680 days, Brad and Anita received that call, after the message was uncorked by another couple, Kate and John Gay, who discovered it in a coastal clean-up.
They opened it along with their fellow Creative Ireland Project Maharees Heritage and Conservation group members, at a meeting held yesterday evening.
The burning questions on their minds before making the call were 'where are they now?' and ‘are they still a couple?’
They said: "We were holding our breath for a happy ending to this love story."
After the number rang out multiple times, the group posted on their Facebook page, with a call out for anyone who knew Anita or Brad to get in touch.
Late last night, Anita, from the message, who has connections to Co Mayo, got in contact.
"They got married in 2016 and they are still together," Martha Farrell of the Maharees Conservation Association said, adding that the couple are now living happily together in Newfoundland.
She described it as a "tremendous story" which has since gone viral on their Facebook page.
Ms Farrell added that the "love story" has led to other couples in the Canadian province getting in touch with their own stories of sending messages in bottles into the Atlantic Ocean.
