Serbia 2011 International Year of Biology

The Serbian post released the International Year of Biodiversity single stamp issue on 15 April 2011. The stamp design is dominated by the letters "IYB", with biodiversity themes decorating the insides of these 3 letters. The letter "B" contains the silhouette of a scuba diver finning above a stream of underwater flora and fauna. The stamp is issued in sheets of 8 with a central label, containing a slightly different design. For the label, the scuba diver has disappeared from the B, leaving only the bubbles of expired air!

Palau 2010 Endangered Species - Napoleon Wrasse

Palau released on 21 December 2010 4 souvenir sheets featuring 4 endangered species: Napoleon wrasse, sharks, turtles and dugongs. One of the 3 98c-stamps on the Napoleon wrasse souvenir sheet features a scuba diver.

French Polynesia 2011 Spearfishing

French Polynesia is releasing on 22 June 2011 a set of 2 stamps on the theme of fishing. The stamp shown above features spearfishing with a sling spear, donning only snorkelling gear, as it should be for spearfishing sport. The other stamp, not shown here, features fishing with a rod in a boat.

Perhyn 2011 Pearls

Perhyn, or the northern atoll of the Cook Islands, has issued 2 souvenir sheets on 5 May 2011 featuring the pearl industry. Much of the manual work in maintaining the pearl farms are done by men donning snorkelling gear as depicted in the souvenir sheets. The main creature featured in this issue is the pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera).

Aland 2011 Very very old champagne!

The Aland stamp here featuring 2 bottles of champagne has 3 June 2011 as the issue date. On the very same day, 2 special bottles of champagne will be auctioned off, one Juglar and one Veuve Clicquot. What is special about these champagnes is that they were retrieved by divers from an old shipwreck in July 2010 in the vicinity of the Aland archipelago, and they are more than 150 years old! The shipwreck is a 2-masted schooner which had ran aground sometime between 1825 and 1830. It has been reported that divers had retrieved at least 145 bottles of champagnes and beer! The champagnes were from the houses of Juglar, Veuve Cliquot and Heidsieck. And 5 bottles of beer has proven to be drinkable and were sent to VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to determine its nature and eventually the probable recipe for it, with the intention reproducing this ancient beer for sale.

Marshall Islands 2011 Corals of the Sea

The Marshall Islands Postal Service issued on 10 March 2011 a set of 5 stamps featuring corals. The issue comes in a sheet containing 4 sets of the stamps, the sheet margin is decorated with marine underwater reef scenery with the silhouette of a scuba diver on the top margin. The stamps themselves are very beautiful, featuring corals like the chalis coral, the elkhorn coral, the brain coral and the finger corals; the corals on the stamps are envliven by the reef fishes swimming around them.

Togo 2010 Cousteau's Birth Centenary

A commercial issue from the Togolese Republic celebrating the birth centenary of Jacques Yves Cousteau. The issue comprises 2 souvenir sheets, one with 4 stamps and one with a single stamp. The Alcyone, the expedition ship with the experimental turbo-sail, is featured in both sheets.