Vanuatu 2013 Underwater Post Office 10th Anniversary

Vanuatu celebrated the 10th anniversary of their underwater post office on 11 December 2013 with a souvenir sheet featuring photos of the process of preparing the post office stand.

Vanuatu 2013 Christmas

Vanuatu released a 4-stamp issue for Christmas on 6 November 2013. One of the stamps shows Santa Clause diving down to the underwater post office to send a letter to Mrs Clause at the North Pole. (Scott 1066)

Vanuatu 2012 Greetings underwater

Vanuatu Post issued on 5 December 2012 a set of of 4 stamps entitled Greetings From Vanuatu featuring what tourists can expect from the island. The second stamp denominated at 100 vatu features a snorkeler admiring corals under water.

Vanautu 2010 Smile With Us - Underwater Post Office

This is one of the 10 stamps released on 15 December 2010 by Vanuatu, in a set entitled "Smile With Us", to celebrate being listed as one of the ten happiest places on earth in 2010 by Lonely Planets. The place is happy because the inhabitants are happy going about their daily lives. This particularly stamp features a snorkeller sending a water-proof postcard at an underwater post office, manned by a postal worker in scuba gear! Postcards posted at this post office are cancelled by an embossing device, instead of an ordinary inking stamp.

Vanuatu 2010 Aerogramme

Vanuatu Post released 2 new aerogrammes for 2010, the design of one features birds while that of the second one features marine fauna - dolphins, reef fishes and coral reef. The marine fauna aerogramme has a stamp printed on the top right corner featuring a scuba diver looking out from a hatch of the SS President Coolidge wreck.

Vanuatu 2010 Shanghai Expo

For the World Expo Shanghai 2010, Vanuatu Post issued a self-adhesive souvenir sheet with 4 stamps on 30 April. The 40 vatu stamp featuring the dugongs of Epi has a snorkel diver in the background, probably a tourist who has come to enjoy the close proximity with the dugong.

Mystery Island at Vanuatu

This miniature sheet was issued 28 March to introduce Mystery Island to would-be visitors. Known correctly as Inyeug, this tiny island measures only a few hundred metres wide and about 1km long and is the airstrip for Aneityum, Vanuatu’s southernmost island. Air Vanuatu services the island from Port Vila and Tanna and this service plus the many cruise ships that visit during the season, have seen Mystery Island’s location become less of a mystery. During World War II, this small, uninhabited island was used as a landing strip for the allied forces. US troops built the runway for their air force in the 1940s as World War II raged throughout the South Pacific. The “mystery” is said to have derived from the fact that the air strip is impossible to see from the sea and therefore it took some time for the Japanese to determine where all the planes were coming from.
Today Mystery Island’s guardians welcome tourists as friends and these locals from nearby Aneityum enjoy the attention and the income from travellers who arrive by plane and ship. They provide string band music and lots of stalls selling souvenirs, handicrafts and food as well as the more unusual things like story telling and hair braiding. Visitors that want more than markets, can snorkel in turquoise waters, photograph the unusual flora and fauna or just stroll amongst the palm trees while enjoying the surf breaking on the surrounding reef.

Mystery Island, Vanuatu. View Larger Map

Romantic Vanuatu

Issued 28 January, this heart-shape self-adhesive stamp is part of a 5-stamp set featuring "Romantic Vanuatu". This stamp shows a couple relaxing on the white sands after a snorkelling session (the 2 pair of fins at their side).