A Utah man who set out to find the original of a message in a bottle from 1985 has accomplished his mission.

Clint Buffington started his task after receiving the letter from his father, who found the message while visiting the British West Indies in the Caribbean.

“Hey dude,” the letter reads. “I’m a grade 10 student from Cole Harbour District High School I like to party and have a good time. I (live on) the coast and this is, I think, half decent. If you (are from another) country I would appreciate a penny (of) foreign money. Being a Canadian isn’t bad. There is a lot to do and the people aren’t so bad.”

Buffington reached out to people on his website on Thursday, and says he quickly received “dozens” of emails from Cole Harbour natives suggesting a name.

He originally thought the sender was a “Merla Dennens,” but later discovered the person behind the note was Merle Sellars.

“Thaaaaaanks everyone!” Buffington wrote on his website. “Thanks to all you beautiful readers and residents of Nova Scotia, particularly around Cole Harbour, Dartmouth, Halifax, and Ketch Harbour, we have found the author of this message in a bottle!”

Buffington says he and his father have yet to have the opportunity to meet Sellars, but they’re working on a get together in the near future.

Buffington has found over 80 messages in bottles and reconnected about 30 of them with their original sender.