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International Training Organization of Recreational Scuba Diving OPEN WATER DIVER (DIGITAL VERSIÓN) IMPORTANT WARNING ACUC INTERNATIONAL holds the copyright for this manual. Reproduction, by any method, without written permission of ACUC is strictly forbidden. Important: The training exercises described in this manual should not be done if it is not under the supervision of an qualified ACUC Instructor. ACUC assumes no responsibility for incidents or accidents caused if this is not followed. ACUC advises that doing some of these training exercises without the correct supervision could endanger the life of the reader and the life of others. CONTENTS Introduction 9 0. Brief History of Diving 11 1. Basic Diving Equipment 13 2. Practices with Basic Equipment 29 3. Scuba Diving Equipment 35 4. Diving Physics 47 5. Diving Physiology: Medical Aspects 61 6. Practices with Scuba Equipment 77 7. The Marine Environment 85 8. The Freshwater Environment 97 9. Ecology 103 10. First Aid 111 11. Underwater Rescue 119 12. Dive Planning 123 13. Labour Opportunities 131 14. ACUC 135 Authors: Manolo Salsas and Juan Rodriguez English Translation by: Juan Rodriguez; English Revision by: Robert Cronkwright Our thanks to: CRESSI-SUB (Spain), UWATEC (Spain) and Mario Bofill, ACUC Instructor Trainer Evaluator. Ilustrations: Corel Draw Corporation; Ismael Molina; Jose Carrasco; Manuel Sanchez and Bernat Comellas Please note: the male gender has been used in some parts of this book for easier reading Start Introduction OPEN WATER DIVER 0. Brief history of diving INTRODUCTION 1. Basic diving equipment ABOUT THIS MANUAL 2. Practices with basic This manual, as other ACUC manuals, was designed as a training aid for the ACUC Instructor giving an ACUC Open Water Diver course. equipment It is up to the Instructor to ask the student to read a specific chapter before 3. SCUBA diving equipment or after the Instructor talks in the classroom or pool about that chapter. Some Instructors prefer that the student reads the chapter as a preparation to the next classroom or pool lesson; some other instructors prefer that the student read the chapter after the Instructor has given the 4. Diving Physics classroom or pool lesson about that chapter, as a form of review of what the Instructor has taught. Regardless of the method used, the student should read the manual. You will notice that some chapters have a sign similar to the top one shown in the right side. This sign means that this 5. Diving Physiology Reading assignment chapter could be a “Reading Assignment” only. 6. Practices with SCUBA In other words, the Instructor might decide not to talk about this specific equipment chapter in the classroom or pool. The Instructor might feel that is sufficient if the student reads about it. Regardless whether the chapter is taught by the Instructor or not, it should be read by the student because it contains 7. The Marine enviroment important and interesting information. Also, the final written exam could contain questions that reference that chapter. All other chapters show the other sign, the one called “Teaching Assignment”. This means that the 8. The Freshwater Instructor must teach about this chapter in the classroom or in the pool. environment Once you finish your Open Water Diver course, keep this manual around, so that you may consult it in your coming years, as an active diver, or if you 9. Ecology decide to take more advanced diver courses. Thank you for choosing an ACUC course. We hope you enjoy your ACUC Open Water Diver course and this manual. Teaching assignment 10. First Aid As the reader of this book, you are on the verge of an adventure in an activity that will change your life. Recreational scuba diving, an 11. Underwater rescue incomprehensible activity to some, will not only fill parts of your leisure hours and vacations, but will help improve yourself as a person. After completing the diving program and becoming certified, when you 12. Dive planning explore the underwater part of your world, you will realize what you have been missing. As of that moment your life will be changed. When you leave the water you will want to talk with your diving buddy about the experience 13. Labour opportunities you have just completed. When you arrive back home and speak to your friends and family you will want to tell them what you have seen. When you go out for a drink with 14. ACUC your friends it will be impossible not to have a conversation related to diving. Little by little you will make new friends among your diving companions and, we are sure, you will try to convert many of your friends into divers. The next time you plan your vacation you will not make it simply for sun, heat and fun. All this becomes secondary and the vacation where there is a Diving Centre and good dives near will become your first priority. When there finally comes a time on vacation that you do not have the opportunity to breathe compressed air from a tank and you suffer "withdrawal symptoms" you will have been converted to a true "diveaholic". Page 10 ACUC - OPEN WATER DIVER Introduction (continued) Then you will laugh at yourself for all the dread and anxiety that, before taking the course, you had in your mind. You will realize that the myths, negative for the most part, that people associate with diving were no more than that: Myths. While before you were fearing an encounter with a shark, now you can not wait for the moment that it happens and, in fact, will encourage you to go great distances, if necessary, to increase the possibility that it will happen. You will learn that the false belief people have that scuba diving is a "high risk" activity is in reality one of the safest activities that you can partake in, and statistically, less accidents occur than most other recreational activities. What are required are a little common sense and good training. If you have acquired this book in order to learn a little more about diving, read on and then sign up for a scuba course. This book, used within a diver training program, taught and supervised by a qualified Instructor, will open the door to a very promising future for you. If, on the contrary, you already have completed a diving course and you have received this book as part of a student kit, congratulations on completing an investment in your future. You are entering into a world that is fun, relaxing and exciting at the same time. But this book alone is of little value. What is most important is the training that you will receive during your course. This training must be complete to be effective. It will prepare you so that your first experience will be enjoyable and unforgettable and you, the student, will have sufficient confidence so that the first, and most important experience, will be beneficial. For that reason, the ACUC Policy is that our divers will be thoroughly prepared before receiving their first diving certification. A diver prepared adequately from these principles is a diver that has confidence and enjoys diving and therefore, is a diver that will stay active. At ACUC, it is not enough to teach a basic course, simply to increase our numbers of certifications. This would result in having a diver who is insufficiently prepared, and after one or two dives, moves on to something else because those first experiences in open water were not enjoyable and comfortable. At ACUC we believe in quality rather than quantity. Finally, we wish to thank Manolo Salsas, an Instructor Trainer Evaluator with ACUC and principal author of this book, who, in spite of not having a computer (an indispensable tool today) when he began to write this manual, managed to finish the text within the agreed time. Most people without the dedication of Manolo would prefer to be doing something more fun than sitting at a table writing a book on diving. Especially if you consider that Manolo wrote this book while living in the Paradise Island of Cozumel (Mexico), in the beautiful Caribbean Sea. If Manolo is not an example of a "Diveaholic" nobody is. We hope that this book helps to change your life and that the investment in your future that you are making with this diving course that you are taking or soon will take will be very pleasurable and you will enjoy diving for many years. Welcome to the world of recreational diving - Enjoy!! Start Page 11 Introduction ACUC - OPEN WATER DIVER 0. Brief history of diving BRIEF HISTORY OF DIVING There is evidence that diving, with snorkelling equipment, has been practiced during thousands of years to obtain food and 1. Basic diving equipment riches (pearls), and also with military objectives. Professional diving, using a helmet and breathing air provided from the surface, started being developed at the beginning of the 19th 2. Practices with basic century and even today, it continues using very similar equipment techniques. Nevertheless, these methods limited the mobility of the diver, because he was “hooked” to the surface by an air hose. 3. SCUBA diving equipment It was not until 1943, when Emile Gagnan, an engineer employed by “L’Air Liquide” of Paris, a company that was owned by Jacques Cousteau’s father in law, impulsed by Cousteau’s 4. Diving Physics himself, invented the “underwater lung”, which was tested and used by Cousteau and by Frederick Dumas. The underwater The past lung used a number of previous inventions, to combine a tank 5. Diving Physiology full of compressed air and a regulator that gave air to the diver when he required it.

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