Message in a bottle crosses the Atlantic Ocean

RANCOCAS, NJ (CNN) – A message in a bottle thrown from the New Jersey shore ended up taking a transatlantic trip.

For 47 years, Nora Dunfee has been coming up with creative ways to teach young children at the Rancocas Friends School.  Since 1987 that’s included a field trip to Barnegat Light, New Jersey and tossing messages in bottles into the ocean.

“We talk about the currents, we talk about where the wind is coming from and where our bottle might go because of that,” Nora Dunfee said.

Typically the bottles don’t float beyond the Jersey Shore, but one little girl and her dad seem to have the magic touch.w

When 4-year-old Lila-Rose Lepore and her parents tossed their wine bottle – they had no idea it was about to embark on a transatlantic journey.

“They were excited to throw something in,” said Lila-Rose’s mom, Danielle Lepore. “I never expected it to reach Ireland though.”

The letters in the bottles ask the finder to mail it back to the school with information about where it was found.

Lila-Rose’s letter made it to Carrick Finn, in the county of Donegal, Ireland, with the stamp and post mark to prove it.  That’s about 3,000 miles, unbroken and cork in tact.

Dunfee, who is trying to get in contact with the Margaret Gillespie who found the bottle, is excited enough for everyone.

“It was like a dream coming true because the bottle actually went someplace far, far away that we never expected.”