An explosion on an offshore rig killed 11 workers and ruptured a deep-sea well head, which took 84 days to seal.

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It was later revealed to be a toy submarine outfitted with a sea-serpent head.

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Grab your bucket and spade and head to popular Wells-next-the-Sea.

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Previous research found artificial light caused newly-hatched turtles to head away from the sea, rather than towards it, and caused seabirds such as petrels to collide with lighthouses and other lit structures.

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Nonsurfers can head to the high seas for some world-class deep-sea fishing and may be surprised at their unusual level of success.

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And finally, just before you head out to sea, you will pass a series of fascinating ice-making houses where huge blocks of frozen water slide down rollercoaster runners and into the waiting boats.

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Head to this top-notch Trastevere spot for super-fresh fish dishes such as spaghetti with sea urchin or grilled calamari.

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Each morning, fleets of cobalt blue boats still head out from port, scattering across a vast Atlantic horizon - but now the daily haul is sea bass, not sugar.

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On clear days you will probably want to head straight out onto the observatory's wraparound terrace, which looks out over a rippling sea of pearly-white summits, deep into Italy, Germany and France and over the 22km-long tongue of the Aletsch Glacier, the longest of its kind in the Alps and a Unesco World Heritage site.

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Nils-Axel Morner, former head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics Department at Stockholm University, documented a dramatic deceleration of sea level rise during the past 40 years.

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