| SUBIOS 2007 Highlights |
The week of 19th to 25th March 2007 saw, for the 18th year in a row, the spectacle of SUBIOS, Seychelles’ own underwater photography and film festival.
This year’s theme of the festival was ‘Our Ocean Cousins’ referring to the order of Cetaceans – whales and dolphins – that were the subject of many a presentation and film show from both visiting and local guest speakers, film makers and aficionados of the underwater world.
As in previous years, SUBIOS was launched by the Republic’s Vice President, Mr. Joseph Belmont, whose opening speech was followed by public voting for the various entries in the film and image competition.
Throughout the week of SUBIOS, several local hotels hosted special SUBIOS-orientated soirées featuring film shows, presentations and special dinners, while the dive centres offered intro dives to school children.
The festival, so useful in the sensitization of the Seychellois youth towards the beauty and fragility of their unique marine heritage, once again provided a platform for their artistic talents in the annual creative writing and art contest. It was also the venue for the second SUBIOS Man and SUBIOS Woman athletic competition that was contested over swimming, cycling and running legs.
SUBIOS 2007 also saw the second edition of the popular Virtual Treasure Hunt in which cryptic clues, posted daily in the Nation newspaper and correctly arranged in a free-form crossword puzzle, provided the winner of the competition with a cheque from Kenwyn House worth SCR 5000.
The popular SUBIOS village at Beau Vallon was the throbbing heart of SUBIOS throughout the final weekend, providing a special edition of Bazar Labrinn, musical entertainment, a starting point for boat rides, as well as various exhibitions and a fashion show. At the festival’s grand finale on Sunday 25th March, the SUBIOS 2008 theme was announced ‘Wrecks as Ocean Habitats’, designed to coincide with the sinking of certain specially chosen vessels to provide habitats for marine organisms.
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