©2009 Full Circle Magazine.
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message that travelled the greatest
distance,” reports Andre, and goes on to
suggest, “ Maybe we have a candidate?”
Catherine and Bianca could only vaguely
remember the incident but were very excited
and not a little awe-struck to see the notes
they had written seven years previously,
giggling at their childlike words to mermaids.
“We did it because we had nothing to do,”
recalls Catherine. “We got the idea from a
movie.” But they can’t remember which
movie it was.
“It just happened to be Youth Day when
we wrote the letters and put them in the
bottle,” says Bianca, “and we went to a
restaurant in Simon’s Town for lunch. While
we waited for our food, we walked to the end
of the pier and dropped the bottle into the
harbour.”
The girls met when they were three and
have always been best friends. They went to
the same crèche but Catherine went to
Kommetjie Primary School and is now at
Fish Hoek High School while Bianca went to
Fish Hoek Primary School and is now at
Reddam House.
“That’s how we stayed friends,” Catherine
reveals. “We would be too much if we were
together all the time!” and they both giggle at
the thought of the mischief they would have
got up to!
The girls would like to donate the bottle and
their letters to the South African Maritime
Museum in Simon’s Town in the hope that their
story will stimulate interest in oceanography
and inspire all the children who visit the
museum to be aware of environmental issues.
Tienie would still like to speak to the girls to
ensure he won’t be subject to bad luck for
having spoken to other people about the
bottle!
September 2009 Vol6 No9
The possible route the bottle could have taken across the South Indian Ocean
Tienie Ras with the messages and a bottle
The bottle
