The first bottle was found! I got an email last night from a vigilant beachcomber letting me know that she was in possession of one of my bottles, and that she had found it on the bay side of Sandy Hook. One can only imagine how my heart swelled with pride while patriotic goosebumps shimmered across my Jersey flesh when I heard that my little bottle had found its way to the Faterland.
I’m waiting for more more details as to where and when exactly it was found, and if our intrepid bottle spotter has plans grander than the recycling bin for the drawing of the Wilson’s Storm Petrel that was enclosed. Hope it was dry.
In other news – I launched the first bottle! Bit backward, this post, but I think we’ll manage. On Saturday, May 21st, at Smack Mellon in Dumbo, I gave a talk about my work (with 7th grade paintings included!) and the New York Pelagic project. I had a feeling I was talking for a really long time, so I was somewhat surprised when they turned up the lights it wasn’t just a room full of cobweb-covered skeletons. At any rate, no one let on that they had been horribly bored, so either I overestimated how rambling I was, or I underestimated the level of classy politeness of those assembled. Pretty much all of whom I knew. Thanks for coming, guys!
So then we all trotted out to the river’s edge, with me the pied piper of littering. ECO-CONSCIOUS littering, so everybody just calm down. I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to toss the bottle, so I settled on an awkward “almost smashing upon the rocks” style. Not to mention almost beaming a couple of innocent bystanders on their head. At least they looked innocent enough. Thankfully, the bottle cleared the rocks and actually made contact with East River Water. Which was quite brown and a little gross from all the recent rain. The bottle quickly headed away from shore and very ambitiously upstream. It was exciting (for me at least) to watch it. It seemed sort of brave with its bright yellow wax and all.
Here’s a picture of me tossing it. This moment captured by my friend Chris Valenziano, who was in town for work but then had to go to a talk about his friend’s scribblings.
And then it made it to Jersey. I especially like picturing it going under the Verrazano. It made it by the whole of Staten Island without being stuck in a hair gel slick! Impressive!
Here’s the drawing of the Wilson’s Storm Petrel that was enclosed:
That’s about it for now. I’ll update when I know more. And when I throw more stuff into the water.
nypelagic.com 
this is friggin awesome
Mazaltov! I am in love with the way you embrace life so positively and constructively, yet manage to bash Staten Island too.
There’s a group of divers that looks for shit at the bottom of the river and harbor. You should find out where they’re going and throw a big weighted one down there. They’ll be so surprised to find a picture of a deer with a muffler growing out of its ass down there. It’ll really make their day.
how do i go about finding a bottle? woud it be wise to have it be the goal of my summer?
I guess there’s not much chance of one of your bottle encased drawings drifting south and working it’s way through the Panama canal, then up the west coast, up the Columbia River snagged on some barnacle ridden super tanker to be deposited on the shores of Portland, Oregon. Perhaps an ice free trans-arctic route would be more likely. Fun project, and great portrait of a petrel!