Inauguration of the diving tower

On Saturday February 8, 2003, Dr. Ferdinand Bernhard, Vice President of the General Council and the Mayor of Sanary, inaugurated the establishment of the observatory diving tower in the city gardens. Dr. Bernhard, was accompanied by Yves Maucherat, President of the association of the Frédéric Dumas museum, and Henri Germain Delauze, President of COMEX, a generous contributor.

Many VIP's gathered at this festive event, including:

•   Mr. Daniel Mercier, President of the World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Antibes
•   Mr. Jean Pierre Bargiarelli, President of Comex-Pro
•   Several members of the Dumas family
•   Mr. Henri Paole, President of the Association for Future and History of Recyclors
•   Mr. Gérard Loridon, representing the Association for the History of French Subaqueous Developmen
•   Mr. Jacques Burnier representing the Association "Aux Bonheur des Dames"

COMEX offered this 450 meters, bi-spheric, observation tower to the museum dedicated to the pioneer, Frédéric Dumas, and located in the Romanesque tower of Sanary.

Becoming more and more known and visited, this highly historical site has dedicated itself to be recognized as "Sanary, Historical City of Diving".

To support this effort, it is necessary to expand and help discover other sites relating to souvenirs of the great people of the city. It is for this reason that Henri Germain Delauze, who greatly participated to the history of diving, offered this diving tower apparatus. He largely mentioned it in a friendly speech where he emphasized "...that many cities acquire modern objects for exhibit, therefore a diving tower could be exposed too..."

A friendly toast ended this event under a nice sun.

Translators: Rod Carr, Evelyne Skorczynski

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