National Association of Underwater Instructors

NAUI logo

The National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) association of SCUBA instructors. It was officially CE and ISO certified in May 2007 in all three diver levels and both instructor levels.

History

NAUI was founded by Albert Tillman and Neal Hess in 1959. In August 1960, NAUI's first Instructor Certification Course was held at the Houston’s Shamrock Hilton Hotel with 72 candidates. The following year, in October 1961, NAUI was incorporated in the State of California as a non-profit educational organization. Al Tillman was the first President and Neal Hess, the Executive Secretary. Other original board members included John C. Jones of the Red Cross and Garry Howland of the United States Air Force. NAUI Worldwide is an international non-profit training agency.^[1]

Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the inventor of the aqualung, was on the board of advisors of NAUI, as was Albert R. Behnke, a pioneer of diving medicine.^[1] Actor Lloyd Bridges was the first honorary NAUI instructor member. He played frogman "Mike Nelson" in the American television series, Sea Hunt, which popularized scuba diving. Buster Crabbe, the famous Olympic swimmer and movie star, was a NAUI instructor. Other celebrities who are certified NAUI divers include Kevin Costner, Lou Gossett Jr., and Cameron Diaz; Tiger Woods is a NAUI divemaster member. Most of the top universities, colleges and institutes of technology in the United States certify diving students through NAUI, including the US Navy, SEALs, Army Special Forces, and NASA astronauts for civilian diving licenses.^{[citation needed]}

Courses

NAUI was the first recreational training agency to sanction Nitrox training in 1992. It published standards for teaching technical diving in 1997, a practice that had been growing among NAUI members for several years. Training is provided ranging from Skin Diver through Instructor Course Director, with dozens of specialty courses. Thousands of member instructors, affiliated stores, resorts, and service centers are located in countries around the world.^[2]

Recreational courses Junior Skindiver [3] Junior Scuba Diver [3] Junior Advanced Scuba Diver [3] Skin Diver [3] Scuba Diver [3] Experienced Scuba Diver [3] Advanced Scuba Diver [3] Master Scuba Diver [3] Specialty courses Deep Diver [4] Dry Suit Diver [4] Enriched Air Nitrox (EAN) Diver [4] Scuba Rescue Diver [4] Search and Recovery Diver [4]

Training Assistant [4] Underwater Archaeologist [4] Underwater Ecologist [4] Underwater Environment [4] Underwater Photographer [4] Underwater Hunter and Collector [4] Wreck Diver (External Survey) [4] Leadership courses Assistant Instructor [5] Skin Diving Instructor [5] Divemaster [5] Instructor [6] Instructor Trainer Course Director

Technical courses Cave Diver (Levels I, II, and III)[7] Cavern Diver [7] CCR Mixed Gas Diver [7] Closed Circuit Rebreather Diver [7] Decompression Technique [7] Heliair Diver [7] Helitrox Diver [7] Ice Diver [7] Introduction to Technical Diving [7] Mixed Gas Blender and O2 Service Technician [7] Semi-closed Rebreather Diver [7] Technical Nitrox Diver [7] Technical Support Leader [7] Technical Wreck Penetration Diver [7] Tri-Mix Diver (Levels I & II) [7] Wreck Penetration Diver [7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Tillman, Tom. "The history of NAUI". Scuba America Historical Foundation. http://www.divinghistory.com/id17.html. Retrieved 2009-05-23. 
2. ^ "NAUI Training Progression". NAUI Worldwide. 2008. http://www.naui.org/training_progression.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "NAUI Recreational Courses". NAUI Worldwide. 2008. http://www.naui.org/recreational_divers.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} "NAUI Specialty Courses". NAUI Worldwide. 2008. http://www.naui.org/specialty_courses.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "NAUI Leadership Courses". NAUI Worldwide. 2008. http://www.naui.org/leadership_courses.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 
6. ^ "NAUI Instructor Courses". NAUI Worldwide. 2008. http://www.naui.org/leadership_courses_instructor.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} "NAUI Technical Courses". NAUI Worldwide. 2008. http://www.naui.org/technical_divers.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 

External links

• NAUI Worldwide website
• NAUI Europe website
• NAUI Pacific Rim website