Is it truly possible to send a message in a bottle and receive a reply?
Well, if you mean is it possible to get a reply to your message in a return bottle, come on. That has a lower probability than California sinking into the ocean tomorrow. However, if you were to put your cell phone number on the message, and someone picked up the bottle and called your number, then, yeah, that is possible. Likewise, if you were to write your address on the message and ask the reader to send you a post card, then it is perfectly reasonable to expect that you would receive such a card. There are instances of bottles having been set afloat and years later washing up on a shore halfway across the world, message fully legible after its journey. The URL provided here is to a report of a bottle launched in 1913 that recently washed up on the shores of the Spokane River in Washington state. Sources: http://www.redorbit.
