FLORIDA KEYS, FLA. (WSVN) – A boat captain and his crew made a special discovery at sea, and what they found would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
They came across a message in a bottle, and it led them to a woman with a unique story.
“We found what looks like a message in a bottle,” said boat captain Jason Truchan in a social media video, showing the bottle.
Back in February, Truchan, and his crew were out at sea when they found a bottle floating in the water.
“We all got excited, and then we said we gotta see this,” said Truchan. “It was the coldest day of the year, but that wasn’t going to stop us from taking in our last ball of stone crab.”
A crew member on board pulled the cork out and revealed what was inside.
It was a letter stating, “This is our mom. Throw her back in, she’s traveling the world.” Her ashes were also inside.
“The reality of what was happening didn’t strike me until the very last second. But it was pretty cool, pretty special,” said Captain Truchan.
On Thursday afternoon, 7News spoke with Stacy Koenighain, who prepared the bottle, and Captain Truchan about the incredible story as it went viral and made some users online believe the discovery was planned.
“A lot of people saying this was fake, that I planted the bottle, was doing this for attention, or this was a skit. None of the above. This really happened,” said Captain Truchan.
“Everybody online was saying, ‘Oh, it’s fake, it’s fake. It’s fake.’ I’m like, it’s not; that was my mom, my sister and I are like, ‘It’s not fake,'” said Koenighain.
Koenighain, who lives in Iowa, has the story behind the bottle.
“She always wanted to live in Florida. My sister lives in Florida. She always said, ‘I hate being cold; I’m gonna move and be with your sister.’ I’m like, ‘OK,’ then she passed away before she got moved down there, so we decided we would just take her ashes and set her in the warm water, and let her go,” said Stacy.
On Wednesday, Captain Truchan was able to get in touch with Stacy, who helped send the bottle out to sea for an adventure after a lifetime.
“This was just an, you know, another exceptional day, and you know, if you go out there on the water every day, cool things are bound to happen,” said Captain Truchan.
As for where the bottle could be now, some predictions say it’s in Turks and Caicos.
“I want to give my prediction as far as where the stream is taking this. I imagine this is probably in the Turks and Caicos by now,” said Captain Truchan.
“Really? That’s great. So, it’s warm?” said Koenighain.
“Oh, yeah, it’s real warm,” said Captain Truchan.
Koenighain said the February video posted earlier this week is meaningful to her as she’s celebrating her birthday on Saturday.
Captain Truchan and Koenighain said they will remain friends.
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