TARGET 111026

Underwater Pumpkin Carving

There are always critics around.

Every Halloween, a group of pumpkin-carving enthusiasts take their pumpkins and carving tools for a session of pumpkin carving - underwater.

Holding it in place

While it may sound like a fun thing to do, carving a pumpkin underwater is a pretty difficult task, considering the buoyancy of the pumpkin (at least until you cut the lid off) and Newton’s third law of motion (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). That is, when you push on the pumpkin, it pushes you back in the water, too. Not only that, but pumpkins float. And a pumpkin makes a fairly large float. So, the entire time they are being carved, they are trying to rise out of the hands of the carver, adding to the difficulty of getting any precision work done.

Looking for food

The bits of pumpkin that float away attract fish, hoping for a free meal.

Showing off their skills and
lining up for the judges

In the end, the pumpkin carvers show their skills to the audience
and line up to have their artwork judged.

The on-lookers and judges
are all warm and dry.

And where are the on-lookers and judges? Well, for the event pictured here, they are sitting high and dry on the other side of the aquarium's glass window. This event is not just for the entertainment of divers. It is for the public, as well.

It might sound like a weird event, but underwater pumpkin carving is pretty common in the US, with several competitions being organized around the United States. The one pictured here is at the Maui Ocean Center in Wailuku, Hawaii. The contests at other locations are in the open ocean, in Lakes, swimming pools, and wherever divers can work in water that is between 15 and 30 feet deep.

Contestants put on their diving gear and drop down to a depth of less than 30 feet, where they try to carve the most intricate jack-o’lanters, and claim the top spots. All the gear is supplied by the organizers, so contestants need only bring their talent and inspiration.

FEEDBACK MAP

If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, please take a look at the following web sites for more:

Environmental Graffiti web site
Instructions on how to carve pumpkins underwater