Girl's message in a bottle finally answered after 29 years

A message in a bottle thrown into the Atlantic Ocean by a little girl 29 years ago has finally been answered thanks to a Facebook appeal.

Married couple Linda and David Humphries were walking along a beach in Georgia when they found the message written by an eight-year-old named Miranda Dawn Moss in 1988.

“David made a remarkable discovery while we were doing a beach sweep on Sapelo Island this morning,” Ms Humphries explained.

“He found this message in a bottle tossed from Edisto, South Carolina....29 years ago! We have a current name and city for the now 37 year-old sender, but any phone [numbers] we've found were dead ends. Will keep trying…”

The pair eventually managed to track down Ms Moss, who is now Miranda Chavez, after her old school friends saw the post. She then contacted her on Facebook.

An ecstatic Ms Chavez discovered her bottle had travelled around 90 miles away to where it was finally found.

“The most amazing thing just happened!” she responded. “I received a message on Facebook. Linda Humphries found a message in a bottle that I put in the ocean…

“I was 8 years old!!! She found it on Sapelo Island and is sending it to me!! So cool!”

Ms Chavez told CBS: “Who would have thought? It’s so awesome how something that small - no matter what you’ve got going on in your life - can take you back to your childhood and to some of the happiest times in your life.

“It was meant to be found. It was meant to do something, even if it was just to have people have something positive to say for a few days.

“I guess it served its purpose.”

She now plans to meet with the couple and travel to beach where it washed up.