A handwritten note, a rarity in a world of texts, emails and instant messages, still has the power to impress, especially if encased in a bottle and thrown into the waves to be carried to unknown places across the ocean.

The most recent "message in the bottle" tale has a bit of a contemporary twist as a short-necked, clear stubby bottle that once contained a Starbucks Frappuccino was used to carry a hand-written message from the Jersey Shore to the shores of Newfoundland, Canada.

Sealed with its reusable silver twist cap and a bit of plastic cling food wrap, the bottle was thrown into the waves off Sandy Hook beach in May by a group of Clifton and Wallington women and found on the rocky beaches of Flatrock Cove, Newfoundland six weeks later.

The senders, Lali Romanek and her daughter Holly along with her sister Irena Wojtowicz and great-niece Olivia, had no idea the bottle would end up on the most eastern point of the Newfoundland island.

"This bottle was thrown into the Atlantic Ocean from Sandy Hook, New Jersey," the message reads. "If you find it, we hope you're having a good day. If you like, please e-mail me." The senders include an email address and a P.S. to the 'L' monogrammed shopping-list like stationary paper. "Thrown in ocean on May 19, 2019. Hope this finds you happy!" The trio included an old-fashioned happy face emoji drawn by hand at the bottom of the message.

"I found a bottle late yesterday with a note inside stating it was thrown into the Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey," the man's email to the senders reads.

His first email didn't mention where he found the bottle, so a follow-up email was requested and received.

"Silly me...Forgot to include that. I found it on the rocks at the edge of Flatrock Cove," he wrote back. He found it on July 31.

The senders and the receiver join a list of "message in the bottle" stories as old as time. Songs (The Police) and books (Nicholas Sparks) have been written and movies (with Kevin Costner) made about this practice.

The message in the bottle is portrayed as a romantic way to send a note into the world and see where fate brings it.

One such message was released into the Baltic Sea and not found for another 100 years later, according to the 2014 story in The Guardian. The message ultimately made its way to the writer's German granddaughter, who was surprised when she received a missive from the grandfather she had never met.

The oldest recorded bottle with a message was found in Australia, according to reports.

Thrown overboard from the German sailing ship Paula in 1886 as it crossed the Indian Ocean, the gin bottle was found near Wedge Island, Australia, about 590 miles from where it was thrown 132 years later by a couple strolling on the dunes.

Sometimes, the message is a call for help.

In 1794, Chunosuke Matsuyama, a Japanese sea captain and 43 companions were shipwrecked on a South Pacific island during a storm. No one knew of their fate until their message in a bottle was found 150 years later near Hiraturema, a village in Japan.

The practice dates back to at least 310 B.C. when Greek philosopher Theophrastus tossed sealed messages into the Mediterranean to prove the sea was formed by the in-flowing Atlantic.

The philosopher's method was used until recently as German ships threw bottles from mid 19th century into the 20th century as the German Naval Observatory sought to learn more about currents. Such drift bottles are still commonly used by oceanographers.

Holly Romanek said she was just "curious," to see what would happen to the bottle once it was thrown into the ocean.

The group visits Sandy Hook often and last May decided to go prepared with the missive in the bottle. That day, before they released the bottle, they enjoyed a nice day where Olivia, 12, became mesmerized by the sheer number of fiddler crabs on the beach.

"I was afraid I was littering," Lali Romanek said of throwing the glass into the ocean. "We recycle everything."

After two attempts (in the first a wave returned the bottle to the beach) the bottle was off and the Clifton group forgot all about it until the email arrived from Flatrock, which is about 5 miles, (or 8 kilometers) north of St. John, the capital of the Newfoundland and Labrador province.

The bottle made its way to the Gulf Stream, which flows up along the Atlantic seaboard before it heads east toward Ireland and Great Britain.

"I have been taking my kids on trips to go exploring since they could walk," Lali Romanek said. "I hate flying so it's all been by car." This is one more adventure she's happy to share with her family.

"My kids are now adults and are continuing in the path I've shown them. That makes my bucket full and happy," she said.

Efforts to reach the Canada resident who found the bottle were unsuccessful.

Matt Fagan is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: fagan@northjersey.com Twitter: @fagan_nj