Ben GodarEven in an age where cell...

Ben Godar

Even in an age where cell phones and e-mail rule communication, a

Burbank man recently found people could still reach each other with

something as simple as a message in a bottle.

Ted Shachory was on a Caribbean cruise with his family in August

when he decided to put a note with his name and address into an empty

water bottle and toss it into the ocean. Earlier this month he

received a letter from a man in Portugal who found the bottle.

“I’d forgotten all about it, but I was really excited when I got

the letter,” Shachory said. “I never thought I’d hear back from

anybody.”

The letter came from Jose Machado, who said he found the bottle

while fishing on the south coast of Sao Jorge island, part of the

Azores Islands of Portugal. That was about 8,000 miles from where

Shachory threw the bottle into the ocean.

Machado asked Shachory to reply to the letter, which he said he

did last week. He hopes the two are able to develop a pen-pal type

relationship, and said the communication has already peaked his

interest in Portugal.

“Maybe we’ll plan our next vacation there,” he said. “I just feel

so glad this guy took the time out to write to us.”

Shachory’s wife, Naama, said it was remarkable not only because

the note was found, but that the person who found it was able to

communicate with them.

“I’m glad the person spoke a little English,” she said. “They

could have written back in Chinese and we wouldn’t have understood a

word of it.”