Corey Swearingen put the bottle into the Atlantic Ocean in April 2009 and it followed the current all the way to a small fishing village in Ireland. A 17-year-old boy and his father found the bottle during a family vacation.
Swearingen's former teacher, Ethan Hall, says the bottle's trip probably lasted about 16 months or so.
In Ireland, the boy and his father responded to the letter, which urged the reader to write with details of the bottle's location.
Swearingen told Melbourne newspaper Florida Today he didn't expect the bottle to be found. He's now studying at Florida Atlantic University.
