The water is full of darting and jumping fish, and the mangrove roots -- some the height of a double-decker bus -- tower over the boat.

BBC: Relaxing among the Yucatan's flamingos

But the financing market for leveraged buyouts is getting squirmy, the music business itself is harder than ever to value, and with new tenanting prospects in double-dip-recession limbo as an ebullient recovery in office-building investment slows, the tower may become part of the collateral damage caused by the shuddering fall of EMI.

FORBES: Iconic Capitol Records Tower Feels EMI's Pain

As much as 150, 000 gallons of ultra-low sulfur diesel and about 12, 000 gallons of other petroleum products are on board the Kulluk, a double-hulled steel vessel with a helicopter landing pad and tower in the middle designed for drilling in Arctic waters.

CNN: Alaska drilling rig towed to harbor off Kodiak Island

Baghdad also now boasts what Iraqis claim is the Middle East's tallest tower (erected in competition with Kuwait), the region's only double-decker bridge and a complete reconstruction of the world's oldest palace at nearby Babylon.

ECONOMIST: Monumental