My son received a reply to his "message in a bottle" from Cuba

[Upandadam]

I think I have a solution.

 

Cruise ships should have special rooms with oars in them so if someone wants to place a message in a bottle, they can offset the potential damage to the environment by spending one hour rowing for each bottle they toss.

[LemurCat]

Goes quite well actually. Both my bosses are off this week and I am pretty much an unsupervised accountant this week. A lovely week to "check out" and relax and do a lot of CC message boardin!!!

 

How bout you LCat??

 

My attorneys are all in meetings all day, so I'm "filing". ;)

 

Can't complain about that.

[bigdaddyvoges]

My attorneys are all in meetings all day, so I'm "filing". ;)

 

Can't complain about that.

 

 

So is your "filing" like my "working?" haha

[Wennfred]

You guys are pissed off over 1 bottle over the side, you should see the trash the Navy dumps out at sea pass 50 miles mark :D

 

I would post the info but it would end up in some newspaper out in England LOL.

 

 

 

Fred

[LemurCat]

You guys are pissed off over 1 bottle over the side, you should see the trash the Navy dumps out at sea pass 50 miles mark :D

 

I would post the info but it would end up in some newspaper out in England LOL.

 

 

 

Fred

 

I know it, Fred. But you've been in the service long enough that the government's rules apply to everyone except the government. ;)

[Wennfred]

I know it, Fred. But you've been in the service long enough that the government's rules apply to everyone except the government. ;)

 

So true :D

[Islandbear]

So what? You get to futher compound your already environmentally unfriendly vacation by allowing your child to pollute? Right, I forgot. Your kid's right to be "whimsical" supercedes efforts for cleaner oceans. Sorry, but I find that incredibly indulgent and supercilious as well as irresponsible. But hey, that's just my opinion.

 

Do me a favor though. If you do allow your kid to do this, make sure you pick up two bottles at whatever beach it is you visit. And also make sure you don't complain about the trashy condition if it happens to be "whimsical" ... that is to say ... less than pristine.

 

I don't think anyone would call my boys "Whimsical" :D, Rambunctious, Inquisitive, Adventuruous & Wild, Yes. Whimsical, :confused: No.

 

I totally agree with you that we need to reduce our impact on our world and especially our devastating destruction of the coastlines and reefs of the Carribean. I have been traveling in the Islands for over twenty years mostly on small sail boats & Windjammer before they went belly up. When I see a floating city come ashore on a beautiful island like Dominica and unload 3000 tourists from a ship that generates more exhaust than all the cars in town combined makes me sick. But, I do it now because I can't afford to rent a sailboat these days.

 

We all make comprimises.

 

I think of myself also as a conciencious parent on the enviormental front. My boys (and I am sure our OP's son) know better than most people of my generation how to protect the enviorment. We live on the edge of the National Forest very simply and pick up the trash thrown there by people who come to enjoy the beauty of nature :rolleyes:.

 

I am willing to cut a kid a little slack.

[98Charlie]

Thats awesome, now standby for the knock on the door from Men in Black :confused:

 

Communication with the Communist needs to be reported. Not sure if this still holds today.

 

Some good reading here:

 

Failure to report these contacts was always considered a serious

breach of security that carried severe consequences for members

of the Foreign Service. Back in the Cold War days, employees

would lose their security clearances, undergo extensive investigations

and occasionally be forced out of the Service. It may

surprise many to learn that some of this is still happening today.

 

http://www.afsa.org/fsj/nov06/statevoice.pdf

 

 

Fred

 

Love your post, Fred. There are reasons why DH (98Charlie) and I will not be conversing with the Communists via bottles.:)

 

Dianne

[98Charlie]

You guys are pissed off over 1 bottle over the side, you should see the trash the Navy dumps out at sea pass 50 miles mark :D

 

I would post the info but it would end up in some newspaper out in England LOL.

 

 

 

Fred

 

You can post it here, just don't post it in bottle out at sea.:D

 

Dianne

[Wennfred]

Go here and check out some cool pics of Message in the Bottles on the shore waiting to be picked up:

 

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-501&va=message+bottle&sz=all

 

 

This one especially is very nice, probably out at sea over 50 years:

 

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dmessage%2Bbottle%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501&w=800&h=600&imgurl=i1.trekearth.com/photos/1267/message_in_a_bottle_800.jpg&rurl=http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/United_States/photo16158.htm&size=136k&name=message+in+a+bot...&p=message+bottle&oid=17921a676aad6930&fr2=&no=16&tt=59969&sigr=12bmgoeko&sigi=11ocjfj4h&sigb=12r7tj7hb

 

 

Fred

[vegs1]

I have found this post quite interesting and thought that since the consensus of the people agreeing with the OP is that he is "just an 11 year old boy", I thought I'd ask my daughter's teacher to do a poll in her classroom to see what the kids thought. (Also Grade 5 students, 10 and 11 years old).

 

The teacher asked:

 

Do you think it is OK for an 11 year old supervised by his parents to throw a plastic bottle with a message in it overboard on a cruise ship hoping it will be discovered by someone?"

 

Of 28 kids in the class, only 1 thought it acceptable. Every one of the kids who disagreed thought that, while it sounded interesting, it wasn't worth yet another piece of garbage in the ocean. The kids talked about sea life possibly ingesting part or all of the bottle or how if it wasn't found, it would just sink to the bottom of the sea and pollute our oceans.

 

One young girl asked why the parents would let the child throw something off the balcony? She cruises quite frequently and has been told by her parents that she is not allowed to do that.

 

The message at our school is to do your part, make the world a better place and to do your best. These kids are being taught that even one person can make a difference!

 

Just thought I'd throw that in there. I thought it quite interesting coming from the children themselves.

[ODUB]

You're not permitted to throw anything off the side of a ship and you could be put off the ship for doing so. Not a good idea at all.

Lighten up barbgazz, The OP's son just had a wonderful learning experience that many don't embrace anymore:).

 

Now that i think of it i just might send a Message in a bottle on MY upcoming cruise.:eek:

[Wennfred]

 

Of 28 kids in the class, only 1 thought it acceptable.

 

 

Im sure if I invented a video game called "Message in the Bottle 2009", they would all approve of it.

 

 

 

Fred

[Upandadam]

I have found this post quite interesting and thought that since the consensus of the people agreeing with the OP is that he is "just an 11 year old boy", I thought I'd ask my daughter's teacher to do a poll in her classroom to see what the kids thought. (Also Grade 5 students, 10 and 11 years old).

 

The teacher asked:

 

Do you think it is OK for an 11 year old supervised by his parents to throw a plastic bottle with a message in it overboard on a cruise ship hoping it will be discovered by someone?"

 

Of 28 kids in the class, only 1 thought it acceptable. Every one of the kids who disagreed thought that, while it sounded interesting, it wasn't worth yet another piece of garbage in the ocean. The kids talked about sea life possibly ingesting part or all of the bottle or how if it wasn't found, it would just sink to the bottom of the sea and pollute our oceans.

 

One young girl asked why the parents would let the child throw something off the balcony? She cruises quite frequently and has been told by her parents that she is not allowed to do that.

 

The message at our school is to do your part, make the world a better place and to do your best. These kids are being taught that even one person can make a difference!

 

Just thought I'd throw that in there. I thought it quite interesting coming from the children themselves.

 

I'd be interested in finding out the demographics of this class and exaclty how the question was posed. Interesting that they thought it was trash and posed any environmental threat at all.

[babyher]

I'd be interestied in finding out the demographics of this class and exaclty how the question was posed. Interesting that they thought it was trash and posed any environmental threat at all.

 

 

 

Yea, especially at an age where the majority of them keep their rooms like pig styes , and leave a dish and cup they were using just anyplace they are finiished with it. :(

[Islandbear]

I'd be interestied in finding out the demographics of this class and exactly how the question was posed. Interesting that they thought it was trash and posed any environmental threat at all.

 

My thought exactly. I can just see the teacher standing in front of a SAVE OUR EARTH poster, wearing a I Brake For Moose T-shirts and sipping from her recycled aluminum water bottle saying "OK Class stop reading Rachael Carlson for a second, I have an interesting question to ask all of you...."

[vegs1]

I'd be interested in finding out the demographics of this class and exaclty how the question was posed. Interesting that they thought it was trash and posed any environmental threat at all.

 

The question was posed as quoted in my post.

 

In December of last year, they did a unit on the environment, recycling, hazards to the planet. I think the kids have really been interested in what they can do to improve the world they live in. They have a very active recycling program at the school as we do in our community. I know we are lucky in that way as many communities still have one garbage day and you put everything and anything in it. Here we have to stream metal, cartons, paper, etc.

 

I think it was very interesting for the young man to receive a reply to his post. I also thought it would be interesting to see what the kids thought of what he did. There was no negative spin to it...just the question as posted.

 

And yes, if it were a video game, they would probably all rush out to buy it!:)

[Traveler353]

There have been a few threads recently about whether it is okay to launch a “message in a bottle” off a cruise ship (i.e., is it “littering” or not. If so, is it still okay. If you do it, is plastic potentially more harmful than glass, etc.). I don’t want to reignite that debate, but my son just received an email from a fellow in Cuba who received the message in a bottle we sent from the Conquest in March.

 

We were on the Western Caribbean itinerary from March 22-29. Each night around 10:00 pm, we launched a bottle (by throwing it off our 8th deck balcony) and recorded the position of the launch.

 

We’ve emailed the finder back and asked him to confirm the date on the message he found (each one was uniquely dated). In his original message, he mentioned that he found it April 6 and said that was 10 days after we launched it. That would make it the March 27 bottle, which we launched Friday night, about four hours north after leaving Cozumel, Mexico. The coordinates of the launch were N21 Deg 45’ by W86 Deg 45’.

 

The finder said he found it on a beach called Bailén Beach, which I believe is on the south side of the western tip of Cuba near the town of El Sebalo and is at approximately N22 Deg 10’ by W83 Deg 58’ (which is about 25 miles SW of Pinar del Rio, which itself is about 90 miles SW of Havana).

 

Assuming I have all this info right, the bottle travelled about 200 miles, almost due east, in 10 days (or less, depending on how long it was sitting on the beach before it was found).

 

Now my son and I are both sending message back and forth to this Cuban fellow, but neither of us speaks any Spanish so we’re doing our best with one of those on-line, automatic translators!

 

That is great. He has made a friend for life. Hopefully some time very soon he will be able to visit him via a cruise.

[Islandbear]

That is great. He has made a friend for life. Hopefully some time very soon he will be able to visit him via a cruise.

 

Write your Congressman. CRUISE CUBA!

[LemurCat]

My thought exactly. I can just see the teacher standing in front of a SAVE OUR EARTH poster, wearing a I Brake For Moose T-shirts and sipping from her recycled aluminum water bottle saying "OK Class stop reading Rachael Carlson for a second, I have an interesting question to ask all of you...."

 

Wow, way to stereotype ... you do realize that pretty much every school district in the country offers environmental science classes ... and that the vast majority of them aren't taught by hippies, right?:rolleyes:

[Islandbear]

Wow, way to stereotype ... you do realize that pretty much every school district in the country offers environmental science classes ... and that the vast majority of them aren't taught by hippies, right?:rolleyes:

 

 

Stereotype? :confused: LemurCat, what gave it away. The NPR Chai Tea Mug? :D:D:D

[LemurCat]

Stereotype? :confused: LemurCat, what gave it away. The NPR Chai Tea Mug? :D:D:D

 

To be honest, it was the overwhelming reek of patcholi and the stories of living in the trees at while getting the undergrad at Cal.

[Islandbear]

To be honest, it was the overwhelming reek of patcholi and the stories of living in the trees* at while getting the undergrad at Cal.

 

* No trees where harmed in the making of this liberal arts master.

[babyher]

* No trees where harmed in the making of this liberal arts master.

 

 

Right On

Groovy and Far Out.....*LOL*

[Pearlbill]

Hey LemurCat. No one ever said you have thrown anything from a cruise ship. You yourself have admitted to cruising though. Neither activity is "green" but it's done. Don't be the pot calling the kettle black.

 

BTW Did you have any toys to play with as a kid? Just curious. LOL

 

Pearl