They Contemplate the Ocean With a Sense of Wonder

--You’ve heard of the seven seas and the Seven Wonders of the World, so why not the seven underwater wonders of the world. A panel of 14 marine scientists, conservationists and explorers named the sites to draw attention to the underwater environment and to urge a global effort to protect it. Former astronaut Scott Carpenter, now an environmental consultant, said: “We’re killing the oceans . . . . The ocean is a very delicate entity and people don’t realize that.” Rick Sammon, president of CEDAM International, a nonprofit group of marine scientists and conservationists that sponsored the panel, said: “If a concerted effort is not undertaken soon to protect and preserve our underwater wonders, they--like the classic Seven Wonders of the World--could be lost forever through carelessness, negligence or deliberate mistreatment.” The panel’s list: Palau, an island group in Micronesia; the northern Red Sea; Australia’s Great Barrier Reef; the waters of the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador; Siberia’s Lake Baikal; the Belize Barrier Reef, and the deep ocean vents in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The panel gave an honorable mention to whales, as one of seas’ great living wonders.

--A Miami couple who survived 66 days in a life raft in the Pacific returned home, each more than 50 pounds lighter. “We’re going to rest--and go away from the ocean for a while, to the mountains, the prairies,” William Butler, 59, said. Butler and his wife, Simone Butler, 56, said their boat was sunk by whales and they fended off sharks and subsisted on fish they caught and desalinated seawater. The couple was rescued by the Costa Rican Coast Guard. Waiting for them at the airport with other relatives and friends was Jessica Butler, the 2-month-old granddaughter born after they began their voyage.

--Japanese Emperer Akihito’s second son, Prince Aya, 23, has received permission to marry Kiko Kawashima, 22, a graduate student he has been seeing for four years. Palace and government officials made no official announcement but nearly all large newspapers and television networks carried the news about the prince who is second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Kawashima, who met the prince at Tokyo’s Gakushuin University, sparked speculation about an engagement announcement when she visited the Akasaka Palace with her parents. The engagement must be approved by the Imperial Council, led by Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu.