Bottled message lands in Richards Bay 29 years later

A message in a bottle, which floated at sea for 29 years, was found on a beach in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, and reunited with its owner, reports the Zululand Observer.

Phillipa le Roux, now living in Australia, was ecstatic to receive the news last week that her message, which she released in 1989 at the age of 10, had eventually been picked up.

She had totally forgotten about it and was surprised to see it all these years later.

After finding the colourful and detailed letter, William Bezuidenhout put a request on Facebook to locate the owner.

A day later Phillipa responded after friends had tagged her in the post.

She has not heard from William yet but was looking forward to the details of exactly where it was located and if it was a glass or plastic bottle.

“I can’t recall the details exactly, but I think it was released at Salt Rock where we often went on holiday.

“I probably had ideas of it going across the seas and being picked up in a foreign land, like all the adventure stories of messages in a bottle from desert islands. Perhaps it has been there and back in 29 years.

In the letter she describes herself as blonde with blue eyes and 1.39m tall. “I enjoy riding and I love wildlife.”

“Funnily enough not much has changed from my 10-year-old description of myself in the letter, besides my height. I have toned down the use of highlighter pens in my line of work – architectural drawings. I still love riding (now mountain bikes rather than horses) and wildlife.”

Phillipa used the opportunity to create awareness about keeping beaches and seas free of litter and expressed her passion for sustainable design and wildlife conservation.

She now supports the Turn the Tide on plastic and the Ocean Clean-up campaigns.

“It is important that people remember not to throw anything into the ocean today. Last October we had a lovely holiday camping in Mozambique, but spent a lot of time picking up the litter that had washed on to the beaches.

“I really appreciate William picking up this piece of litter,” she said.

Phillipa said she moved to Sydney recently with her husband and studied architecture; she is now working in hotel design and construction.

Her parents and brother still farm in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, and they still have the same postal address that she wrote on the letter.