Marvellous pictures! As they were displayed on the screen that Wednesday evening in the conference room of Sugar Beach Hotel, the Woah! Superb! Fabulous! were flying around. Indeed they were justified. This second edition of the Underwater Photography Competition 2006 was yet another big success in terms of participation and quality.

The jury had a tough job to choose the best photos as they were all splendid in both categories: Animals of the reef and Beauty of the sea.

The first one included pictures of fish, macro shots of fish, pictures of any moving animal on the reef while the second was more technical with wide-angle shots, pictures using partner as a model or any ambiance, special light-effect shots. Each participant had to present two pictures per category. The winner came as a surprise as it was his first participation: Jean-Michel Langlois won the much coveted trophies for both categories as well as a prize on the best rating average for his pictures.

But one picture was found worth the prize called 'Coup de coeur' by the jury and the man behind the camera was Pascal Ava, who was overjoyed. He has won two air tickets offered by Air Mauritius.

This event, now an annual feature is meant to become a very exciting tourist attraction in the coming years. By the way, just imagine these fabulous pictures on our Mauritian stamps?