Underwater Post Office
at Hideaway Bay, Vanuatu

Hideaway Island in Vanuatu has what is probably the best known underwater post office still operating in 2023. The resort explains on its website, “The underwater post office is approximately 35 meters from shore. You can swim, snorkel or kayak as you please.” The underwater post office offers an underwater service counter to snorkelers and scuba divers mailing special water-proofed post cards. It opened on May 26, 2003 and is commemorated on a stamp issued on September 24. On January 30, 2004 a set of four stamps and a souvenir sheet depicting the underwater post office were issued for the Hong Kong Stamp Expo. The stamps depict workers placing mail in a bag (35 vatu), a swimmer placing mail in a mail box (80 vatu), a swimmer at the counter (110 vatu) and a clerk at the counter and a swimmer near the mailbox (220 vatu and souvenir sheet). The post office is featured again on a set of die cut self-adhesive stamps issued on July 30, 2008. The tenth anniversary of the service is commemorated on a souvenir sheet issued on December 11, 2013. Located at a depth of 1.5 metres according to correspondence with the resort in 2023, this post office is closest to the surface of all the facilities described here, but it is the one most commemorated on its country’s postage stamps.

Underwater Post Office Souvenir Sheet for Hong Kong Stamp Expo 2004

Tenth Anniversary of the Underwater Post Office Souvenir Sheet Issued in 2013

Commemorative issued September 24, 2003 to mark the
opening of the Underwater Post Office in May 2003.

Underwater Post Office self-adhesive set issued July 30, 2008.