KEY LARGO, Fla. – Not content to carve their pumpkins in the traditional way, several divers carved jack-o’-lanterns more than 30 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Ken and Linda Smith of Sebring, Fla., took top honors Saturday for their “scary pumpkin” at the 10th annual Amoray Dive Resort Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Their prize was a free dive trip.

Carving underwater wasn’t easy, Ken Smith said.

“The pumpkins want to float, so that makes it difficult,” he said. “So you’re working against your own buoyancy and the pumpkin’s.”

Some contestants dropped a weight inside their pumpkins to keep them on the bottom. Then they sliced and pared to create their entries alongside yellowtail snapper and other fish.

The contest was staged about five miles off Key Largo.

Sioux City airport invites its travelers to ‘FLY SUX’

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – City leaders have scrapped plans to do away with the Sioux Gateway Airport’s unflattering three-letter identifier – SUX – and instead have made it the centerpiece of the airport’s new marketing campaign.

The code, used by pilots and airports worldwide and printed on tickets and luggage tags, will be used on T-shirts and caps sporting the airport’s new slogan, “FLY SUX.” It also forms the address of the airport’s redesigned Web site – www.flysux.com.

Sioux City officials petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to change the code in 1988 and 2002. At one point, the FAA offered the city five alternatives – GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY – but airport trustees turned them down.

Airport board member Dave Bernstein proposed embracing the identifier.

“Let’s make the best of it,” Bernstein said. “I think we have the opportunity to turn it into a positive.”

From Associated Press reports