A Boy Threw A Message In A Bottle Into The Sea… The Phone Call A Year Later Shocked His Family

Sometimes the smallest ideas turn into the biggest surprises. That’s exactly what happened to a 10-year-old boy who tossed a message in a bottle into the ocean for fun, only to have it discovered 4,000 miles away exactly one year later.

A Simple Experiment Turned Into Something Amazing

Amy Bisterzo and her 10-year-old son, Lorenzo, live in Fort Old Bay near Nassau in the Bahamas. On February 10, 2025, they decided to try something many kids dream about: sending a message in a bottle out to sea.

“Of course when we first threw it we were so excited to imagine what might become of the bottle and where it would go,” Bisterzo said. “But honestly, as time went by, we completely forgot about it.”

The pair placed a handwritten note inside the bottle. Lorenzo included his and his mother’s WhatsApp numbers, the name of their town, and the date before they headed out on a jet ski and tossed the bottle into the bright blue Bahamian waters.

She admitted the activity was mostly just a fun idea to try with her son.

“But in my adult mind I knew it was highly unlikely to be found,” she explained.

The Bottle Travels Across The Atlantic

What Amy didn’t realize is that ocean currents can carry floating objects incredible distances. Scientists say the powerful North Atlantic currents can move debris from the Caribbean across the ocean toward Europe.

That appears to be exactly what happened.

After traveling more than 4,000 miles, the bottle eventually washed up on Vila Chã Beach near Porto, Portugal.

On February 12, 2026, almost exactly one year after it was thrown, 49-year-old schoolteacher Maria Enes was walking her dog when she noticed something unusual in the sand.

She said finding the bottle felt like something straight out of childhood imagination.

She described the moment as being a “childhood fantasy.”

“As it said 2025, and it was so new I thought it was from the area, and I took it home with me. I took the paper with tweezers, and I was astonished that it came from the Bahamas— exactly one year had passed.”

A Late-Night Call From Portugal

After reading the message, Maria decided to try calling the number written inside the bottle.

Back in the Bahamas, Amy was getting ready for bed when a strange international number appeared on her phone.

“Then a strange photo popped up with someone saying, ‘I got your bottle,'” the mother said.

At first, she was confused, but the moment she saw the photo, she recognized her son’s handwriting immediately.

“I shouted upstairs to Lorenzo, ‘someone found our bottle’ because it was so long ago he didn’t know what I was talking about, and then I showed him.”

The two families quickly began chatting, sending voice messages and videos back and forth.

“Then I started to communicate with Maria, and she sent voice notes and videos, and very quickly I realized this woman was so kind and lovely,” Amy said.

“I never thought it would be found, let alone almost to the year exactly, let alone go so far and also to be found by the perfect person.”

Maria now hopes the families will someday meet in Portugal.

She even has an idea for when they do, throwing another bottle into the ocean together to see where the next adventure might lead.