Inaugural Pumpkin Carving Event Held…Underwater
By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN
As the end of summer heat falls into October, some community members embodied the transition this past Saturday, October 4. On the west side of Otsego Lake at Three Mile Point, five scuba divers suited up to carve pumpkins—underwater.
A collaboration of the Leatherstocking Dive Club and the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station, divers competed for a Fourth Seeker Element dive mask and Stream2Sea Explorer pack, which included small diving necessities. David Turner, chief dive officer for the Leatherstocking SCUBA local business, said he was working to build a dive community in the area.
Families came to watch as the divers put on their gear, grabbed their pumpkins and entered the water on the 80 degree sunny October day. Pumpkins already hollowed out, the divers brought them to the lake floor just off shore. In a dive brief, Turner told divers to be careful and not to panic if the pumpkin got away from them.
Jeannette Kubis, a Professional Association of Diving Instructors-certified scuba instructor, said “We dove into the spirit of Halloween with a splash” in what the divers plan to be an annual event.
“I was pleased with the turnout and excited for next year’s,” Kubis said.
Alex Dixon took first prize in the carving contest.
Future Leatherstocking Dive Club events can be found on the Facebook group by the same name.
