Tauchersymposium Bonn

Today I attended the 9th Bonn Congress on Scuba Medicine (Bonner Tauchersymposium). Incidentally, it was held just two minutes from my temporary home at the university guesthouse. In the morning there was half a dozen lectures on general interest topics such as hypothermia and motion sickness, in the afternoon, there were more topic-specific workshops. Speakers were recruited mainly from academic research centers, the German navy, or rescue organizations. Many of them had previously authored for Divemaster, the only serious scuba magazine on the German market. (Even in an international comparison, this particular magazine ranks high.)
The event was well organized by the Wasserwacht (water rescue) of the local Red Cross. Legions of Wasserwachtler must have spent the entire night, making sandwiches and setting up the venue. Outside the auditorium, there were booths by various vendors of scuba and first-aid equipment. I will not go into too much detail about the specific talks; but this was surely an exceptional event, on the highest level one can imagine. No wonder that many of the participants had happily accepted a six to eight hour commute.