A Wicklow woman responsible for a message in a bottle that washed up in New Jersey has described the reaction to the saga as "mindblowing."

Aoife cast the bottle into the sea at Bray back in 2019. She never expected the bottle to be found nor gain such huge traction in the US.

Aoife told IrishStar.com : "The positivity around it has just been amazing. It’s just insane. I could never have imagined this a few years ago."

The discovery was made on August 16 by Frank and Karen Bolger, who were picking up trash near their vacation home in Wildwood with their granddaughter Autumn. “My wife noticed the bottle in a clump of seaweed. She reached down to grab it and I opened up the trash bag - we almost threw it in the trash! Then she said, 'Oh, there’s a note in it’,” Frank told IrishStar.com.

They pulled the note out with tweezers and read it. "Greetings from Ireland. I have thrown this bottle into the sea for someone to find another day,” Aoife wrote. "Maybe it's travelled down to Africa or up to Iceland! I won't know if someone found this, but I hope it is found!”

READ MORE: Family's hunt for 'Aoife' after discovering message in a bottle

Aoife didn't leave her last name or any contact details, but Frank had trust in North Wildwood’s large Irish American population. He shared the story with a friend in the media and it eventually went viral, reaching Ireland within days.

“Last Tuesday I was out running a few errands and my dad was at home watching the news. I got back and about an hour later he turned around and said ‘I want to show you something’,” Aoife said. “He brought me into the sitting room and showed me the TV and I was in complete shock. I was speechless.”

Frank shared his email address with the media and Aoife found an article featuring it online. She reached out straight away and they were on a video call with each other the next day. “We had a great chat about how wonderful and mind-blowing the story is,” said Aoife, who has never been to the US.

"When I was writing it, I thought maybe it could end up in Iceland or Africa. I’m honestly still in shock that it ended up in America. I would have been happy if it washed up in Co Wexford. ”

Aoife is an artist and writes both as a hobby and for her mental health. She often carries her notepad around to jot down what’s going on in her life and on July 17, 2019, she decided to write to someone else.

“I had my notepad with me that day and I just ripped a page out and found a little bottle that had washed up beside me,” said Aoife. “I put the note in and just threw it, without a thought that any of this would happen four years later."

What has touched Aoife the most is how the public has responded to the story. “It’s really brought people together. I haven’t seen one negative comment about it. People are texting my family who haven’t connected with us in years because they saw us on the news. I’ve been really taken aback by it,” she said.

“I hope other people will be inspired by it. It shows that you really never know what can happen. The connections you can make are just unreal.

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