Halloween Spirit Comes Alive At Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest

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KEY LARGO (CBSMiami/Florida Keys News Bureau) -- With their favorite marine creatures in mind, a creative group of scuba divers submerged 30 feet beneath the surface in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to carve jack-o-lanterns.

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Sophie Costa, left, and Allison Candelmo display their completed entry in the Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest staged Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Fla. (Frazier Nivens/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

And yes they did it underwater because they were all competing in the annual Underwater Pumpkin Carving contest that took place Sunday in the waters off Key Largo.

Underwater artists of all ages used dive knives and fine carving tools to transform their orange gourds into sea creatures.

Participants also were challenged to keep the hollow, naturally buoyant pumpkins from floating off while they carved their critters.

Sebastian Gimeno, 16, and his brother Gabriel, 14, from Weston, Florida, impressed judges with their dolphin and half-moon cutout to win the contest's top prize, a return dive trip courtesy of the competition's organizer, Amoray Dive Resort.

WATCH WEB EXTRA VIDEO OF THE UNDERWATER PUMPKIN CARVING CONTEST

 

Other pumpkin entries included sharks, a sea horse, an eel, sea turtle and a skeleton fish.

The annual contest, scheduled each October ahead of Halloween celebrations, was staged near a shallow reef about five miles off Key Largo.

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, divers participating in an Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest staged Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Fla., display their creations. The competition was held 30 feet below the ocean's surface and was organized by the Amoray Dive Resort. (Frazier Nivens/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

(©2018 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Florida Keys News Bureau contributed to this report.)

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