Key West’s Southbound Fishing Charter found a message in a bottle on Friday
We were fishing about 12 miles Southeast of Key West. I saw a big Loggerhead turtle on the surface near some weed patches. Sometimes bait will follow a turtle same as it would anything else floating on the surface. The bait can attract Dolphin, (mahi), so I trolled over closer to the turtle. He didn’t like it and dove as I got close, Not wanting to run through the big patch of Sargasso weed next to him, I turned off and as I did, I noticed a bottle floating. It appeared to have a note in it.
We decided to pick it up
The location bottle was recovered
We spun around and my 1st mate Barbie scooped up the bottle with a bait net. There definitely appeared to be a note in it. It had some barnacles on it so we knew it had been in the water for a while, but we were still trying to catch fish, so we put it aside and decided to open it back at the dock
Once back at the dock,
Customers and crew gathered around to see the message in a bottle we found
The Message we found in a bottle while fishing on Friday, May 17th
We decided to see what the message was. The message was in Spanish, but as best as I could figure a couple from Spain had been throwing a message in a bottle as they traveled to St. Lucia. Part of the note was not very legible and to be honest, from the handwriting, I’m guessing they emptied the bottle before putting the note in it, (or maybe the seas were “Sporty”.
The message in a bottle
Where the bottle began its voyage
did have a phone # and what I think was an email address. I tried to call the phone # but it would not go through. I sent a couple of texts in Spanish using a Google translator, but I have not heard back from them yet. Hopefully, I will as I would love to hear the details of their story. They did include a Lat/long of the spot where they threw the message in a bottle overboard. Using the charter Plotter on my boat, I estimated it traveled approximately 1,650 miles since December 15, 2023, when they launched it.
Our plan
Is to put the original note back in the bottle along with another note from myself explaining where I found it and where I put it back in the water. Hopefully, someone will find it and contact me when they do. It will be like an aquatic, Message in a bottle chain letter! I know my handwriting sucks, so to avoid any difficulty reading my letter, I’m going to type it and put it in a plastic bag
I’ll update when I know something.
Moral of the Story: When you’re fishing off Key West you may catch more than dinner.
Book your trip with Southbound while we still have some availability.
3,4 & 6-night Fishing Vacation packages that include
FREE Accommodations!