A Utah native is seeking out a Philadelphia man after finding his message in a bottle.

Clint Buffington, 32, of Salt Lake City, Utah, told NBC10 he was visiting an uninhabited island in the British West Indies back in May, 2015 when he found a Gatorade bottle with a note written on a Carnival Cruise Line paper inside. The cap on the bottle had deteriorated and the ink on the letter had faded yet Buffington was still able to decipher part of the message. After close analysis, Buffington came up with the following:

"Hi, my name is Ray. Just wanted to say hi. If you find this bottle, I put it in the water 5-16-14. I live in Philadelphia. Let me know what day you found this. Give me a call. I was on a cruise."

Unfortunately for Buffington, the one piece of writing he couldn’t quite make out was the most important: Ray’s phone number. Buffington believes the first eight numbers are 267-271-46, but he’s unsure of the final two.

Buffington, who has made a hobby out of finding messages in bottles and tracking down the people who sent them, shared his discovery on his blog and Facebook page last June. Yet despite getting massive feedback and over 1200 shares from people across the country, he still hasn’t found Ray. He also tried reaching out to Carnival Cruise Line but wasn’t able to get any info. He’s hoping he can find Ray and ask him why he sent the message in the first place.

“I think we live in a time where it’s easy to feel distanced from people,” Buffington said. “What was his motivation?”

If you think you know who Ray is, email us at tips@nbcphiladelphia.com or message Clint through his Facebook Page or blog.



