Yesterday, I was lucky to be able to attend some very high caliber diver training provided to about twenty divers from all over the country. Dr. Dan Marelli, with whom I have been in correspondence for some years, invited me to attend one of his lectures on decompression sickness and to possibly offer some comments about the subject. I drove over early and was surprised at the great facilities that are more or less hidden on the government owned project (the island is manmade from dredged sand).

After an excellent lecture, and a good lunch - I watched the students participate in a virtual rescue exercise in association with the Escambia County helicopter. This was fascinating and I really felt as if I were watching an actual diving accident rescue taking place.

EPA Dive Training is under the direction of Jed Campbell. A Research Biologist, he is Director EPA Diver Training/UDO USEPA - Gulf Ecology Division.

Dan Marelli is South Regional Safety officer for the YMCA Scuba program and is a member of the RSTC. He is President of Scientific Diving International, a company which has been leading the course for the past six years. The company which has over 90 years combined experience also offers diving program startups, scientific, public safety and commercial diving program audits, webmaster hosting for diving program databases, diver training, accident investigations, expert testimony and underwater forensic surveys.

The web page about the EPA program is laocated at:
http://www.epa.gov/ged/dtprogram.pdf


Good diving!

scubadoc

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