On 9 June 2025, PostNL will issue Experience Nature – underwater life Sint Eustatius, a sheet featuring 10 stamps in 10 different designs. The stamps have a denomination of 1 for mail up to 20 grams within the Netherlands. The price for a sheet of 10 stamps is €12.10. This stamp sheet about the butterflies of Sint Eustatius is part of the multi-year series Experience Nature dedicated to the Caribbean Netherlands from 2024-2026. Each year, the series features four stamp sheets, each with 10 different stamps.
The stamps depict plants and animals found in this part of the Netherlands. The islands in this region boast an extraordinary biodiversity by Dutch standards, with thousands of plant and animal species. In 2025, attention will be given to the birds, butterflies, underwater world, and flora of the island of Sint Eustatius. On 2 January and 10 March, PostNL released the first two stamp sheets in the series, featuring the birds and butterflies of the island. The third stamp sheet, Experience Nature - underwater life of Sint Eustatius, highlights the following animals this year: Spotted Trunkfish, Spinner Dolphin, Trumpetfish, Blue Marlin, Great Star Coral, Banded Butterflyfish, Humpback Whale, Striped Seahorse, Goldentail Moray, and Tiger Shark.
SINT EUSTATIUS
The island of Sint Eustatius, like Bonaire and Saba, has a special status within the Netherlands. The collective name for the three islands is the Caribbean Netherlands. Together with the countries Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten, they form the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is part of the Leeward Islands. This designation refers to the position of the islands relative to the prevailing northeast trade winds. Sint Eustatius lies between Saba and Saint Kitts, separated from these islands by a shallow sea. The only city and capital of Sint Eustatius is Oranjestad. Since 2010, Sint Eustatius has been a special municipality, with the island council as the highest governing body responsible for local legislation. The executive power lies with the island commissioners appointed by the island council, chaired by the governor. About 3,000 people live on Sint Eustatius, and the island's official language is English. Sint Eustatius is dominated by the dormant volcano The Quill (601 meters) in the southeast and a 200,000-year-old extinct volcanic area in the north around the hill Bergje (223 meters). There are three national parks on the island: Quill/Boven National Park, Statia National Marine Park, and Miriam Schmidt Botanical Garden.
UNDERWATER LIFE OF SINT EUSTATIUS
The waters around Sint Eustatius, up to a depth of 30 meters, are part of the Statia National Marine Park. Established in 1996, this park covers nearly 28 square kilometres. In large parts of the park, fishing and anchoring are prohibited to protect the nearly 300 different fish species around the island. Sint Eustatius is also visited by various species of sea turtles, including the Hawksbill Sea Turtle and the Green Sea Turtle, which lay their eggs on the beach each year. The coral reefs and seagrass beds of Sint Eustatius are home not only to many fish species and other underwater animals but also to more than 150 different sponges. The coral reef, along with the many shipwrecks, is popular with diving tourists. Most of the 36 official dive sites are located in the two reserves in the northern and southwestern parts of the park. To counteract the decline of the coral reef, a multi-year plan is underway to restore the marine ecosystem.
Source: Anemoon Foundation, duikvaker.nl, Nature Today, Stenapa, Wikipedia
DESIGN
The stamp sheet Experience Nature – underwater life of Sint Eustatius is designed by graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda. The sheet features all underwater animals portrayed in their natural environment, each on its own stamp. The following 10 animals are included: Spotted Trunkfish, Spinner Dolphin, Trumpetfish, Blue Marlin, Great Star Coral, Banded Butterflyfish, Humpback Whale, Striped Seahorse, Goldentail Moray, and Tiger Shark. All photos are incorporated into a graphic layer with circular shapes that are also visible on the sheet border. The image sometimes extends onto the adjacent stamp and the sheet border. In various places on the stamp sheet, the designer has added graphic elements derived from symbols on old topographic maps. These symbols indicate landscape forms, contour lines, vegetation, soil structures, and waterways. The design is also characterized by an extra transparent layer with monochrome images (both white and coloured) of characteristic flora and fauna from this area. The monochrome images are almost abstract, run across the perforations, and connect the stamps with each other and with the sheet border. The following animals are depicted: Banded Butterflyfish (top right), Striped Seahorse (middle), Spotted Trunkfish and Great Star Coral (bottom right), Long-spined sea urchin (bottom left), Queen Conch (middle left) and the tale of a Humpback Whale (top left).
