The story of the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) is the story of how an idea evolved into a vision of how diving instruction should be. It is a vision that is shared by thousands of people for whom scuba diving is not just a recreational pastime, but a passion. Imparting safe diving skills and working in unison to preserve the world’s aquatic environments are the noble purpose shared by those pioneers who first formed NAUI. Pursuing this task has not always been easy, but it has been richly rewarding. This history chronicles the dedication, hard work and perseverance, the conflict and resolution, and ultimately, the triumph of the philosophy “Dive Safety Through Education.”
The modern diving era in North America traces its beginnings to 1948 when Jacques-Yves Cousteau convinced Rene Bussoz (of Rene’s Sporting Goods in Westwood, California) to import self-contained underwater breathing units he called Aqua-Lungs. Previously, aquatic adventurers were limited to breath-hold dives, although they too called themselves skin divers. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that the term “scuba diver” became the accepted name for Aqua-Lung users.
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