Sergeant Major 2

 

It's time for another fish. This is one of the Sergeant Major collection. Grenada was next on my list to visit when COVID struck. I hope that one day I will be able to see one of my fave fish at this intriguing Caribbean island.

Arrecife Coralino

Why did I never travel to Cuba? I suspect I'll always regret the fact that I had plenty of opportunities but never visited this fascinating Caribbean island nation. So stamps is the next best thing and if nothing else I have learned here that Arrecife Coralino is Spanish for coral reef. 

Stamp and photo

From lovely Singapore, the Copperband Butterflyfish. This stamp was issued in October 2001 very close to when I was actually in Singapore.

Here's a photo I took of one while diving at Sea Gypsy Village:-

The Florida Keys

One of a fine set of stamps from the USA, this one featuring coral in Florida which is located off the coast of the Florida Keys. This is the only reef found in continental USA (Hawaii also has coral). 

The only time I dived (as opposed to snorkelled) in the Florida Keys was an interesting affair. We were staying at the Ocean Reef Club (it's posh, look it up) where Greg was a chef. One day Greg arranged for us to go out on a boat with Rick (the resident dolphin trainer). He told Rick that I was a qualified scuba diver. I wasn't. Rick took this at face value, I was too embarrassed to admit the truth. Rick took me out on his boat, strapped me into a scuba rig and threw me overboard. I lived. Just. 

And here he is on that fateful trip. Rick Trout the dolphin man. His departure from Ocean Reef and life thereafter turned into a drama to rival Tiger King. 

A frogman with flippers

I wanted something unusual to introduce my section on reef life. This caught my eye. A bit random but a lovely old school scuba image, diver wearing no wetsuit and cheap flippers. Very like moi! I did hesitate about which way up the stamp went but was eventually guided by the bubbles!

The Royal Angelfish

The Royal, or Regal, Angelfish is a gorgeous colourful reef fish found in all of the tropical Indo-Pacific oceans. Strangely it is not found in the waters of the Republique Du Benin where this lovely stamp was issued in 1997.