Bermuda and an eight-year-old boy in North Carolina.

Master Warrant Officer Brian Quackenbush found the bottle washed ashore in November at the Canadian base at Daniel's Head in Sandys Parish.

Nearly three years earlier, Mike Stella had stuffed a message inside it and tossed it into the ocean at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

MWO Quackenbush not only answered the short note, he sent Mike a Bermuda hat, mug, and T-shirt, a collection of maps and tourist information and even a Bermuda cook book.

Mrs. Leslie Stella, Mike's mother, said the boy had launched 26 bottles with messages inside them over three years. He received five replies, but they were all from the local area until one bottle floated 600 miles to Daniel's Head.

MWO Quackenbush, who has been in Bermuda for nearly four years, said eight-year-old Karine Pelletier, the daughter of a colleague, will now become Mike's pen pal.

Mrs. Stella said her son was thrilled by developments and she had a message for Bermuda "residents and tourists alike.

"Keep your eyes open,'' she said. "You never know when you'll find a treasure, or be able to answer a young child's hopes.'' MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE -- Canadian serviceman Master Warrant Officer Brian Quackenbush found a note Mike Stella sent in a bottle from North Carolina.

Now, Karine Pelletier, 8, right, will be Mike's pen pal.