Finding a message in a bottle can truly be cause for celebration, as these quotes from recipients of such messages will attest:

*** 'When I saw the bottle had a message inside, it was like winning the lottery!' ***

*** 'This didn't just make my day, it made my entire year!' ***

*** 'I was totally amazed to discover a message inside the bottle. I was beyond excited!' ***

*** 'I couldn't believe my luck! The bottle had a message inside! This is a once in a lifetime happening!'***

What is it about the idea of a message in a bottle that so captures the imagination of people, often leading to news reports and even television coverage? After all, it's really no big deal to dispatch a message-laden bottle to the ocean waves, so why the big fuss?

The attraction of this simple form of messaging lies both with the sender and the recipient.

The sender finds some sort of emotional release or fulfilment by setting their words adrift upon a vast ocean, in the hope that wind and tides will deliver their message to someone, somewhere, at some time. Their ideal is that their thoughts will ultimately be heard and understood, leaving maybe a small imprint of their soul - a legacy if you will - as a way to be remembered.

We seem attracted to the idea of messages travelling with no guarantee as to which shore they might wash up upon, or indeed when they might arrive. Unlike our usual daily mundane mail, much of which seems to now travel at the speed of light, bottle messages somehow acquire more cache and mystique with every year that passes between the point of dispatch and that of discovery.

And those of us who have sent messages in such a manner are in good company. Christopher Columbus did it, NASA has done it with their message-laden Voyager probes and indeed The Police have even sung about it.

It also seems that the very 'random' nature of 'travel and arrival' is what most endears these messages to the ultimate finder. The very fact that the cosmos has destined a particular bottle to be placed in one's own path is for many a magical experience.

Here you will find tales of romance and excitement, stories of laughter and sorrow, with a couple of truly bizarre cases thrown in for good measure.

It's our hope that many of these stories will inspire you and pass on that sense of wonder - the same feeling of wonder people get when they find a message in a bottle.

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