Fisherman finds message in a bottle he wrote 19 years ago

"It's astounding, I'm speechless," says Kristján Lár Gunnarsson, a fisherman living in Stykkishólmur who opened a message in a bottle that was sent out 19 years ago. Kristján was amazed when he realized that he had been involved in writing it and putting it out at sea in 1995. In a way, Kristján found his own 19-year old message in a bottle.

"The message was written by a group of kids whom were with their parents picking eggs out in the islands in Breiðafjörður," explains Kristján and refers to annual trips that families with land claims in Bjarneyjar, a cluster of islands where eggs are frequently picked. The message mentions the trip and exactly how many eggs were picked on that day

Kristján found the bottle this summer while picking down elsewhere in Breiðafjörður. He actually picked several bottles - all scheduled for recycling - but realized that there was something special about this bottle. "I saw the bottle and thought that this could be a message in a bottle, so I kept it. But I didn't open it then, I just put it up on a shelf in my garage. Then I was cleaning the garage yesterday and thought I'd have a look. And it started ringing some bells in my head. It's just amazing. What are the odds?" he asks laughingly

The bottle went into the ocean about 19 years ago. "It's about 12 kilometers from where we threw it in to the place where I found it. I'd like to know how far it has traveled before it ended up there."

The kids that were with Kristján on that egg-picking trip have mostly moved away from Stykkishólmur. "Yeah, but they've still gotten a chance to see this on Facebook now. It's a total blast from the past." he adds.

Kristján says that the message, which was written on a kitchen tissue - will be framed. "This is going up on a wall in the Bjarney lodge, no doubt about it."

Post by Kristján Lár Gunnarsson.