PANAMA CITY BEACH — Carving a pumpkin can get a little complicated.
There is an uneven surface, the course shell with a stringy inner layer — perfect for making a normal, two-eyed head into a cycloptic creature with a collapsing optical bridge — and gooey pumpkin guts to work around.
Yet for some, pumpkin carving still isn’t difficult enough. Their solution: reducing their field of vision to a 7-inch rectangle, cutting off peripheral vision completely and then working their blade with schools of fish swimming around, chomping on the residual matter floating from the knife. This is all done underwater, so there is some movement restriction as well. Aspiring carvers need to remember to put a weight in the pumpkin to keep their canvas from bobbing on the surface.
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“That’s definitely harder than I remember carving a pumpkin being,” Diver’s Den instructor Jennifer Heun said.
Diver’s Den is hosting its first ever underwater pumpkin carving contest at 3 p.m. Oct. 26 at the jetties at St. Andrews State Park. The event is free for all certified scuba divers — except for the cost of a pumpkin.
Diver’s Den also is opening up the event to discovering scuba divers, what they call non-divers, who can use the shop’s equipment with a $50 entry fee. Non-divers will be required to pass a three-part test: clearing a flooded mask, taking a regulator out and putting it back in and controlling the inflator.
There will be a few rules, too. There is a 30-minute time limit. (Heun demonstrated underwater carving Friday and completed a simple design in 17 minutes. Contestants are not allowed to draw on a stencil prior to submersion, although carvers can bring a stencil underwater. Carvers are required to remove pumpkin guts before entering the water.
Judging for the competition will be arbitrary, although nautical-themed pumpkins like shark faces or a scene with sideways fish have received acclaim at other competitions. The winner of the contest receives a $50 gift certificate to Diver’s Den. The competition is the creation of Mac McManus, who participated in a similar competition in Pennsylvania.
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Underwater carving does have some application to diving skills. Participants can work on proper breathing and hand-eye coordination. However, that’s not really the reason for the contest.
“It’s just fun,” McManus said. “If diving is not fun, don’t do it.”
Friday was Heun’s first stab at underwater carving and she agrees. She joked she was going to buy two more pumpkins to try to perfect a design before the main event.
