A glass bottle thrown into the sea from Cuba on June 6, 1998 by a 10-year-old girl named Sara reached the beach of Samil in Vigo, Spain, after traveling over 6,000 kilometers across the Atlantic and collecting messages from various people over nearly three decades.
The discovery occurred on August 7, 2026, during the O Marisquiño festival, when sisters Lena and Xulia Soto were swimming in Samil after a day of skating and noticed something floating in the water, reported Faro de Vigo this Saturday.
"I thought it was plastic," Xulia admitted upon seeing the object from the shore. It was she who alerted her sister Lena, 11 years old, and together, along with their mother Leticia González and their skateboarding friends, they retrieved the bottle and discovered its contents: several handwritten messages from different times, the oldest of which dated back to 1998 and was signed by a Cuban girl, the media reported.
The original text said: "Hello, my name is Sara. I am writing this letter from Cuba, June 6, 1998. Let's see if someone finds it. I am 10 years old. If you find it, send it back to see if it reaches me."
That message was written during a particularly tough time for Cuba: in 1998, the island was still immersed in the so-called Special Period, which began after the Soviet collapse, experiencing blackouts ranging from eight to 16 hours a day, severe food shortages, and a virtually paralyzed transportation system.
That a 10-year-old girl, in that environment, entrusted a message to the ocean with the hope that someone on the other side of the world would find it adds a unique emotional dimension to the story.
Before reaching Samil, the bottle had made at least three stops at Carril beach, in Vilagarcía de Arousa, reported the Spanish newspaper.
Two of those findings were documented on March 27, 2023, when two people who signed as Ana and María picked it up and left their own message: "Hello, we are Ana and María. It seems that the bottle does not want to leave Carril because we found it on the beach on 03/27/23. We hope it reaches Cuba again one day."
Three days later, the bottle reappeared on the same shore, and a third person, identified as Milucha, added a single sentence: "My name is Milucha. The sea brings it back to the beach."
Among the messages saved inside is one signed by Lucía and Nayara, who are eight years old, also dated in 2023, and appears to be the first direct response to Sara's text: "We are Lucía and Nayara. We are 8 years old and we hope it reaches you in Cuba."
The Soto sisters and their mother also documented their encounter and added a new link to the chain: "Hello! We are Galician skaters aged between 11 and 13. We are participating in O Marisquiño in Vigo on 7/8/2026. We hope the chain doesn't break and comes back to Cuba. Safe travels! Chapela rules!"
On the same day of the discovery, they tried to launch the bottle again from Samil, but the currents kept bringing it back to shore: “We attempted to throw it again from the same beach, but it kept coming back,” they explained.
The connection between Cuba and Galicia has deep historical roots: between 1899 and 1960, around 378,000 Galician immigrants arrived on the island. This legacy endures: Cuba currently ranks as the third country in the world with the largest Galician community abroad, behind only Argentina and Brazil, with 51,326 registered individuals at the beginning of 2026.
Now, the Soto sisters plan to launch the bottle again from Ons Island or the Cíes Islands, where they hope the currents will carry it far away from the coast and continue its journey, perhaps back to Cuba, or perhaps towards a shore that no one can predict.
Related videos:
Filed under: