In anticipation of a rise in basic postage from 55 cents to 60 cents, Australian Post is issuing the first part of reef fishes issue on 21 June 2010. This first part comprises 4 stamps featuring the regal angelfish, the spotted sweetlips, the clown triggerfish and the golden damsel. The cover of the booklet with 10 self-adhesive stamps features the silhouette of a scuba diver shining a torch. The cover of the chequebook with 200 stamps also features the same silhouette.
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.
Cuba Post issued a set on "Fondos Marinos" or "Marine Depths" on 20 February 2010, with 6 stamps and 1 souvenir sheet. The souvenir sheet marks the 15th anniversary of the world record for no limit breath held free dive by Deborah Andollo (this record has been broken by others since then). The 6 stamps feature a variety of marine fauna, and 4 of them also feature scuba divers.
The sheetlet selvage features a girl wearing a deep sea diving helmet, with a yellow bird perching on her hand. This figure is actually a spray painting on steel, by an elusive artist known as Banksy, entitled "Space Girl and Bird", that was auctioned off for £288,000 at Bonhams 25 April 2007. This piece of expensive art was part of a series of designs commissioned by pop band, Blur, for the cover of their Think Tank album and featured on Blur’s 5-track CD cover. The remaining artwork mostly feature people wearing the same type of diving helmets. The sheetlet shown above is found only in the prestige booklet of the Classic Albums Cover issue released on 7 January 2010 by the Royal Mail.
This stamp with a scuba diver, is part of an issue on tourism in Aqaba, Jordan, released 16 July 2007. Aqaba is located on the Gulf of Aqaba, at the northern end of the Red Sea, not too far from the more famous Red Sea dive destinaton, Eilat (in Israel). These 2 destinations, Aqaba and Eilat are the gateways to the Red Sea Marine Peace Park, which was formed after the signing of the peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.
This is the picture side of a pre-paid postcard issued on 3rd November 2008 featuring a favourite scuba diving destination in the Visayas - Bohol. There are 10 postcards in this set featuring popular tourism sites.
This is the reverse side of the postcard, with the photo of a clownfish peeping from its anemone home.
A set of 7 stamps were also issued on the same day on the same theme of tourism. This one features Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO heritage site and a top scuba diving destination located in the middle of the Sulu Sea. Scuba diving here is done from a live-on-board that sets out from Puerto Princesa City, capital city of Palawan Island. This is one of my must go destinations.
This block of 4 celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Saudi Aramco in 2008. It was on 29 May 1933 that the original oil concession agreement was signed between Saudi Arabia and Standard Oil of California, that will lead to today's Saudi Aramco. The stamp with the scuba diver probably features recreation in the Red Sea.
