Strange Attractions: Vanuatu’s Underwater Post Office
The isolated island of Vanuatu – a country with a population of around 250,000, located a thousand-odd kilometres from the East coast of Australia – has established one of the world’s most unusual forms of communication. Whilst many suggest that the use of postcards and other forms of ‘snail mail’ by travellers is a dying phenomenon, quickly being replaced by the Internet due to speed and price, few visitors to the South Pacific island will be able to resist trying out Vanuatu’s underwater post office. Whether the recipients will actually be able to read the resulting letters if a different subject entirely.
Providing you get the right pen, though, Vanuatu’s special waterproof postcards can be sent by heading fifty metres off the shore of Hideaway Island, near the small town of Port Vila, and diving or snorkeling your way down to the tiny hut that makes up the ‘office’. You’ll be greeted by a member of staff kitted out in scuba dive equipment, though you’ll have to be careful with your timing. The office is typically only manned for around an hour a day, unless there happens to be a big cruise liner around the island.
It’s a surprisingly busy location, humming with activity, having managed to serve an incredible 100,000 people over its eight years of operation. While sending your post through the post office will get you a special mark to indicate the effort you’ve made to the lucky recipient, Vanuatu’s oddest tourist attraction also has its own proper commemorative stamps, featuring the post office hut in all its glory.
The underwater post office is currently the only one of its kind in the world, and while it can frustrate with those limited opening hours . If you do miss the manned hours, there’s also an American style post box in which to drop your mail at the same location, from which underwater post is collected on a daily basis. While – using that option – you might not see that ‘underwater stamp’ yourself, the lucky recipient will still see the efforts you’ve gone to. You can see instantly whether the post office is open or not, as an above-water flag marks its locations whenever the office is manned. If you happen to be dropping in on this particular Pacific Island – we’re jealous! – send us a postcard!
Photo provided by the Vanuatu Tourist Board.
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