MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) - A message in a bottle sent by a Melbourne high school student as part of his marine science class has come ashore in Ireland.

The bottle was released into the Atlantic Ocean in April 2009 and followed the current all the way to a small fishing village in Ireland. A 17-year-old boy found the bottle during a family vacation.

The boy and his father responded to the letter, which urged the reader to write with details of the bottle's location. Other bottles had already been found off the United States coast.

The student who sent the bottle, Corey Swearingen, says he didn't expect it to be found. He is now studying at Florida Atlantic University.