44INAROW
05-21-2007, 11:18 AM
pretty neat story...........
A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Note from Puerto Rican student found during cleanup for Adopt-A-Beach
May 21, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
BY LOUISE POPPLEWELL - VICTORIA ADVOCATE
MATAGORDA - Sergio Garcia was excited about being on his first Adopt-A-Beach cleanup, but had no inkling that destiny was about to connect him with students hundreds of miles away.
He and his wife drove from Houston to join co-workers in cleaning the beach at Matagorda Jetty Park in Matagorda County. He was hoping to find something unique or at least something interesting.
"I'd heard about people finding things ... and I was hoping I'd find something," he said.
The beach was a mess, with downed trees and limbs that, he was told, washed ashore in the wake of storms.
"I mean huge trees. I'd never seen a beach like that," he said. "Right there in the branches I saw a plastic bottle with a blue cap. It must have been only the fourth or fifth thing I picked up. I opened it right there. It was a message on yellow paper with a cloth string tied around it tight. It was windy, and the wind started to rip at it so I waited until we got back."
Back at the check-in point, the typed message was laid out and an examination began. It was written in Spanish, English and French.
It read:
"Greetings and congratulations, you have found my bottle. My name is Pedro I. Rivera Santiago. I am a ninth-grade student at the Rafael Irizarry Rivera Middle School in Penuelas, Puerto Rico.
"Puerto Rico is a tropical island in the Caribbean Sea. It is a very beautiful place since all year is summer and we can visit our beautiful beaches any day of the year.
"The bottle you have found is part of a project that we are working in our science class guided by our teacher, Mr. Javier Gonzalez.
"We are investigating how far a plastic bottle can be dragged by the superficial sea currents that happen to the south of Puerto Rico.
"If you find this bottle, please send us an electronic mail indicating to us the number on the bottle, the name of the student that prepared it, the date and place where you found it. In addition, we would like to know a little about yourself. We will be very grateful of your help. Thank you very much."
The bottle was numbered 12, which coincidentally also was the 12th bottle reported to the school as having been found.
The message was dated Nov. 9, 2006. Garcia found the bottle April 28 during the 21st spring clean up sponsored by the state's General Land Office.
"I was excited," Garcia said. "I'd hoped I'd find something. Boy, I was really excited. It makes me want to go to some more beaches, or maybe I'll go to Puerto Rico on my vacation next year."
Garcia, a crew chief with Storm Water Solutions of Houston, and about 30 co-workers were on their first Adopt-A-Beach clean up.
Robert Van Borssum, director of the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort, estimated that the bottle traveled 1,650 miles to reach Matagorda County.
Gonzales, the science teacher, explained by e-mail that 84 plastic 20-ounce soda bottles were launched at 9:04 a.m. on Nov. 9. The teacher and four students placed the bottles four miles away from the coast to be sure they didn't get stranded on the beach.
"Then we waited, and after just 21 days, the first bottle appeared in the Dominican Republic," the teacher said. "So far, 13 bottles have been found in the Dominican Republic, Turk islands, Cuba, the Cayman Islands and Texas."
Gonzalez said the month-long project "began as a concern I had to make a class more interesting for my students. We live in an island and are surrounded by water currents that can move all sorts of things to our beaches. Many people don't believe water currents can really circle the whole world, and that included my students.
"So I designed a workbook with a bunch of activities that went into making maps, labs and even seeing the movie 'Finding Nemo,' especially the part of where the turtles travel with the sea currents."
After learning the basics about currents, the students got busy preparing the bottles. Sand was added "because we wanted the sea currents to move the bottles, not the wind. We also added molten wax to the inside of the bottle to create a seal on top of the wax that would keep it away from the message written in the paper."
Gonzalez said he is still hoping for confirmation that more bottles have been found.
"According to our research on sea currents, the bottles can be dragged as far as England, Spain or even Africa."
A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Note from Puerto Rican student found during cleanup for Adopt-A-Beach
May 21, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
BY LOUISE POPPLEWELL - VICTORIA ADVOCATE
MATAGORDA - Sergio Garcia was excited about being on his first Adopt-A-Beach cleanup, but had no inkling that destiny was about to connect him with students hundreds of miles away.
He and his wife drove from Houston to join co-workers in cleaning the beach at Matagorda Jetty Park in Matagorda County. He was hoping to find something unique or at least something interesting.
"I'd heard about people finding things ... and I was hoping I'd find something," he said.
The beach was a mess, with downed trees and limbs that, he was told, washed ashore in the wake of storms.
"I mean huge trees. I'd never seen a beach like that," he said. "Right there in the branches I saw a plastic bottle with a blue cap. It must have been only the fourth or fifth thing I picked up. I opened it right there. It was a message on yellow paper with a cloth string tied around it tight. It was windy, and the wind started to rip at it so I waited until we got back."
Back at the check-in point, the typed message was laid out and an examination began. It was written in Spanish, English and French.
It read:
"Greetings and congratulations, you have found my bottle. My name is Pedro I. Rivera Santiago. I am a ninth-grade student at the Rafael Irizarry Rivera Middle School in Penuelas, Puerto Rico.
"Puerto Rico is a tropical island in the Caribbean Sea. It is a very beautiful place since all year is summer and we can visit our beautiful beaches any day of the year.
"The bottle you have found is part of a project that we are working in our science class guided by our teacher, Mr. Javier Gonzalez.
"We are investigating how far a plastic bottle can be dragged by the superficial sea currents that happen to the south of Puerto Rico.
"If you find this bottle, please send us an electronic mail indicating to us the number on the bottle, the name of the student that prepared it, the date and place where you found it. In addition, we would like to know a little about yourself. We will be very grateful of your help. Thank you very much."
The bottle was numbered 12, which coincidentally also was the 12th bottle reported to the school as having been found.
The message was dated Nov. 9, 2006. Garcia found the bottle April 28 during the 21st spring clean up sponsored by the state's General Land Office.
"I was excited," Garcia said. "I'd hoped I'd find something. Boy, I was really excited. It makes me want to go to some more beaches, or maybe I'll go to Puerto Rico on my vacation next year."
Garcia, a crew chief with Storm Water Solutions of Houston, and about 30 co-workers were on their first Adopt-A-Beach clean up.
Robert Van Borssum, director of the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort, estimated that the bottle traveled 1,650 miles to reach Matagorda County.
Gonzales, the science teacher, explained by e-mail that 84 plastic 20-ounce soda bottles were launched at 9:04 a.m. on Nov. 9. The teacher and four students placed the bottles four miles away from the coast to be sure they didn't get stranded on the beach.
"Then we waited, and after just 21 days, the first bottle appeared in the Dominican Republic," the teacher said. "So far, 13 bottles have been found in the Dominican Republic, Turk islands, Cuba, the Cayman Islands and Texas."
Gonzalez said the month-long project "began as a concern I had to make a class more interesting for my students. We live in an island and are surrounded by water currents that can move all sorts of things to our beaches. Many people don't believe water currents can really circle the whole world, and that included my students.
"So I designed a workbook with a bunch of activities that went into making maps, labs and even seeing the movie 'Finding Nemo,' especially the part of where the turtles travel with the sea currents."
After learning the basics about currents, the students got busy preparing the bottles. Sand was added "because we wanted the sea currents to move the bottles, not the wind. We also added molten wax to the inside of the bottle to create a seal on top of the wax that would keep it away from the message written in the paper."
Gonzalez said he is still hoping for confirmation that more bottles have been found.
"According to our research on sea currents, the bottles can be dragged as far as England, Spain or even Africa."