Which do you prefer?

Hello everyone,
I have really enjoyed this forum since I discovered it a few days ago. Everyone is very friendly and constructive and I have enjoyed going through the other posts and learning from what the more experienced members of this group have to say. And of course check out some really amazing photos at the same time.
I am struggling with a photo I took in Marina Beach, Chennai. I have 3 in this series but this one I will play with at the moment. I would like to invite preference and comment on whether the coloured B&W is the way to go here or the full colour version? Or maybe all B&W? I am not too keen on the sky and sea and I feel that maybe B&W helps 'hide' some of the yukkiness. To create the B&W I just altered the saturation of blues and yellows. It was pure luck that these people's clothing and skin were not affected at all.
Many Thanks
Michael

I prefer the full color one. I feel it gives a better setting, while not distracting from the real subject.

how about this? The second picture was good,but I felt that it lost a bit of its color on the man's back, and I also thought there was still too much color of the sand, taking away from the main subject, the people.

I prefer the color one. The blue of the sky and water is complementary to the orange of the man's shirt and makes for a pleasing combination.

Perhaps a crop moving the subjects off center something like this would enliven the shot a bit. I also did a levels adjustment to counter the flatness of the light.

Welcome to the forum and keep up the good work.

Mtresillian how do you do a photo like that black & white with color ? BTW nice picture

Micheal, I too prefer the full color version as the varying tones of blue between the sky and water contrast nice with the color of their clothes and creats a nice feel as well. I agree with Chunk about a crop, but I would only crop up from the bottom just enough to remove the shoes and leave it as that. I like the top giving a feeling of space and openess. nice image.