The 2011 Hotel Colonyrsquo;s International Underwater Photography competition on the Isle of Youth saw representatives from 15 nations, including Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Germany, Canada, Russia, Uruguay, Chile, Italy, Serbia, England, Sweden, Spain and Cuba. It was won by Chilean Fernando Olivares, who obtained first place in both the Macro and Fish categories.
In the Environment category, first place went to Javier Jascón from Spain, while Cuban Julio Santos won the category Environment with Model. His fellow Cuban, Themis Garcia, received the award for best model.
Cuban entrant Daniel Perez came second in the Macro and Fish categories and third in Environment with Model.
Hotel Colony, nearly 42 km from Nueva Gerona provincial capital of the Isle of Youth, welcomed the participants and organizers of the event held between April 10th and 15th. The competition is held each year at the 56 diving sites of the stunning Punta Frances Natural Park.
The park was the site of Cuban diver Deborah Andollorsquo;s setting several world records in different modalities of competitive apnea in the 1990s.
Andollo is presently the president of the Cuban Federation of Underwater Activities that is preparing the 14th Underwater Photo World Championship to take place in Cuban waters in 2013.