It's every beachcomber's dream.

And to discover a message in a bottle sent sailing across the ocean from some far-off land seems to be an increasingly frequent occurrence on Bermuda.

Amazingly -- this week alone -- three different such messages washed onto Bermuda's shores, one of which was more than 14 years old.

A visiting family of Royals discovered a message in a bottle which drifted to Bermuda all the way from Trinidad.

Llew Royal, his wife Colette and their four children Bo, Katie, William and Caroline, are visiting the Island from Pennsylvania along with their extended family.

Mr. Royal told The Royal Gazette he was sitting on the balcony of their room at the Pink Beach Club on Sunday morning when he noticed a green bottle bobbing up and down in the water.

"I saw the bottle, but I really didn't give it a second thought until it washed up on shore. As it rolled, I could see there was something in it,'' said Mr. Royal.

Mr. Royal sent his ten-year-old son Bo down to the shore to take a look, and they discovered the message.

"Everyone surrounded me and wanted to know what it was... we couldn't get (the letter) out the bottle so we had to break it. When we broke it, we realised it was in French,'' said Bo.

Luckily, Mr. Royal's mother Louise Royal was able to translate most of the three-page letter. The content was primarily religious and was apparently sent "in honour of the 15th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother at Medugorje in Yugoslavia''.

The letter, dated June 24, 1999, was left unsigned although it included the latitude, longitude and time at which the bottle was tossed overboard.

"It was exciting because there's always the hope that there's a million dollar (reward),'' chuckled Mr. Royal.

"Of course, a message may come from just two houses down, but this one came all the way from Trinidad and it was a good lesson for the kids on how ocean currents work,'' he added.

Coincidentally, Carlton Richardson -- who is a gardener at the Pink Beach Club -- also found a message in a bottle which washed ashore one day later.

The message, written by someone named Teddy Stetsen who lives in New Jersey, was dated July 31 and had been written on Sonesta Beach letterhead -- so Mr.

Richardson assumes it was dropped overboard by a guest at the resort.

"The letter says that this is an experiment and they hope to hear from someone, so I'm going to write a letter tonight and post it tomorrow -- he might not even be home by the time my letter gets there,'' said Mr.

Richardson.

Mr. Richardson said when he first found the bottled message, he expected it to be from somewhere a bit more exotic than a hotel right here in Bermuda -- but he still considers it a rather novel discovery.

"I clean the beach every morning and I come across a lot, but I never found a message in a bottle before this one,'' he noted.

Another local man also found a message in a bottle on Monday -- more than 14 years after it was originally cast into the sea.

Alfred Ray said he was walking around Duck's Puddle in Bailey's Bay and saw lots of bottles, cans and boards which had washed ashore in the area.

He noticed one bottle sitting atop a mound of rotting seaweed which appeared to have a note inside.

Mr. Ray had difficulty removing the message. When he finally extracted the note, much of the writing had faded but he was able to make out an address.

Apparently, the bottled message was part of an Ocean Drift project conducted by the Cole Harbour District High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The letter was signed by Troy Bonn and was dated June, 1985.

Mr. Ray explained that the bottle looked like a Mott's orange juice container, and it was sealed with a metal cap instead of a cork.

"You could hardly make out the writing, but I could see it took 5,170 days to get here... I'm very excited to find it, it's probably been in all sorts of storms before coming ashore,'' said Mr. Ray.

Mr. Ray said he is not anxious to send the letter back to the sender -- he said he would rather fold it back up and keep it, although he is open to suggestions about what should be done with his find.

Photos by Tony Cordiero and Arthur Bean Royal message: Llew Royal and his son Bo with the message they found drifting in a bottle by the Pink Beach Club last Sunday.

Long at sea: Alfred Ray found this bottled message sent from Canada which had been adrift for more than 14 years.

Exciting discovery: Carlton Richardson, an employee at the Pink Beach Club, discovered this message inside a bottle while cleaning the beach.