WATCH: They were out hunting for treasure on a remote beach on the north coast of Haida Gwaii. And among the usual discoveries was a classic find right out of the movies — from about four thousand kilometres away. Asa Rehman has the story.
When professional surfer Hank Gaskell decided to write a message and put it in a bottle while competing in Washington State last September, he didn’t think much of it.
“We had a lot of free time between surfs. There’s so many bottles on the beach. Naturally, I decided to write a note, stick it in a bottle…I didn’t think the lid would hold up that well.”
Not only did the lid – sealed by surfing wax – hold up, the bottle was eventually found, hundreds of kilometres to the north.
“There’s tons of bottles from the tsunami debris from Japan. All in lots of different shapes and sizes,” says Latasha Williams. Her family was on a vacation from Victoria during the Christmas season, looking for glass balls on a Haida Gwaii beach. “Some are really tall, some are really tiny. It was definitely strange I just noticed that one.”
Williams was delighted to find Gaskell’s message, and says she’ll follow his instructions by sending it out again with a new letter.
“I am going to tell them they should come to Haida Gwaii, and I would like to meet them no matter where they are in the world,” said Williams.
“I thought there was about a 1 per cent chance someone would find it,” said Gaskell.
“It’s definitely remember this forever I think. I’ll send another out the next time I have a chance.”