ITDA Scuba Open Water Diver Training Manual

• This document serves as the ITDA Scuba Open Water Diver Training Manual, version 8.9.
• Stephen Craig-Murray authored and compiled the manual, holding positions on the ITDA Training Board and as an ITDA Academy Assessor, copyright from 1998-2025.
• The ITDA®-IHMP International manual has ISBN 978-1-63443-472-3
• The manual's price is determined by the supplier, and it encompasses e-certification and training materials.
• These ITDA® Scuba OW, Dry Suit & Club Diver Training Programs are crafted to align with the needs of divers globally, considering various conditions from warm to cold waters.

Certification

• Certification is available through ITDA Scuba Open Water or ITDA Club Instructors and higher.
• Cold water divers can only be certified by an ITDA Dry Suit Environmental Instructor or higher.
• The ITDA Scuba OW / Club diver programs are designed to train SCUBA divers through theory, pool and in-water sessions, making them safe and competent within the program's confines.
• Divers can dive to a 20m depth and partake in specific diving activities with a Diving Professional's supervision.
• A dry suit diver or club diver is authorized for cold water dives.
• SCUBA OPEN WATER Certifications are not valid for cold water unless upgraded to DRY SUIT Diver certification.
• The ITDA's training systems share a regional theme, adapting to local laws, diving conditions, international standards, and regulations of various regions.

ITDA Regional Headquarters

• ITDA® International Technical Diving Agency HQ Europe is located in Malaga, Spain.
• Regional offices and support extend to the UK, Greece, Benelux, Spain, Norway, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, and Poland, as well as Asia, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the USA, the Caribbean, Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

What You Will Learn

• Skills Development teaches basic internationally-certified diving, rescue skills, and first aid.
• Diving Theory includes diving physics, physiology, safe planning, and environment.
• Students will learn safe scuba equipment usage plus purchasing and maintenance tips
• Diving equipment, diving theory, skill development, diving environment/skills, confined water training, open water scuba, and future education topics all come up.

Introduction

• The ITDA program seeks to educate divers to recreational diving standards limited to 20m/66ft, emphasizing supervised dives for initial experience.
• Aiming to equip Scuba OW Divers for advanced challenges within ITDA's "Unique System".
• This system acknowledges experience levels transitioning from Open Water/Dry Suit Diver to ITDA Dive Leader.
• Diving theory covers decompression, dive tables, planning, risk assessment, physics, physiology, and equipment, supplemented by rescue skills and CPR with optional Oxygen First Aid and AED use.
• Divers at this level should dive under professional guidance to avoid incidents due to inexperience.
• Dive Leaders/Masters and Scuba OW/Club Diving Instructors provide supervision.
• ITDA Instructors may issue "Unrestricted" certifications based on ability but strongly recommend experience restrictions.
• Additional training and requirements are necessary for levels like Rescue, Advanced, Specialist, Master Diver, Leadership, and Instructor.

Level Limitations

• Certification at this level prepares student divers with knowledge and competence as Scuba Open Water Divers. -Diving is restricted to "Scuba OW Resort type environments", or temperate warm water with wetsuits/shorty suits. -Dives must only occur in open water conditions matching the training environment.
• Cold Water/Limited Visibility Diving necessitates Dry Suit Diver certifications or higher with specialized certifications.
• ITDA scuba OW divers are advised to 20m/66ft limits. -For safety the level of this experience is limited to 18m/60ft, with an average max of 16m. -Two over six training drills must get fully performed at the 20m/66ft mark.
• After the Open Water Diver level, the next step is Scuba Open Water Rescue Diver.
• Dives in the dry suit program have certain requirements.

ITDA-IHMP Memberships

-Benefits include certification verification, database registration, and a bi-monthly newsletter with training offers.

• Membership includes discounts on dive tours and travel.

Diving Equipment

• It’s important to know what equipment you need to breath and why.
• Tips on buying equipment could be helpful.
• Before we can learn the basics of SCUBA-DIVING, we will need to understand how we are able to survive in the underwater world.

Scuba Regulator

• The scuba regulator is a “Life Support" that allows you to breathe comfortably underwater, working in two stages with compressed air up to 200/230bar.
• The regulator reduces the pressure from the cylinder in two stages: via the first stage, and then to ambient pressure via the second stage, which goes into our mouth.
• Scuba Cylinders are filled with high pressure air.
• All one needs is to inhale, with just a little effort and you will feel how easy it is to breathe.
• Regulators are only as good as their surrounding pressure. -The surrounding pressure is easy. The most important safety tip is Never Hold your Breath Breathe Always.
• All must consider how to enjoy being in this amazing aquatic world by observing things and moving around comfortably.
• Many regulators are for warmer waters, be sure to ask you instructor or the manufactorer.
• The regulator should be cleand.
• As ITDA divers, everyone is expected to be more than just playing around in the marine worlds because you will be considered a guardian of the underwater world because if we do not all take on the task of conserving and protecting the environment it may not be around for future generations to to enioy.

Mask Snorkel and Fins

• To see clearly with we need an air space in front of our eyes, which is where the diving mask comes in.
• Only masks with flexible nose areas are suitable for Scuba diving, masks should be of solid material with either Tempered Glass or Safety class.
• The glass should have the word "safety".

Mask Exercises

• Practice techniques for equalizing pressure with the Mask
• Practice swimming and breathing with no mask, clearing a mask with little water, flooding the mask and cleaning it, and taking off the mask and putting it back on again and cleaning out excess water.

Snorkels

• A snorkel is a tube through which we can breathe with our head in the water.
• Snorkels allow to save air from our Scuba Cylinder by breathing at the surface, plus keep our head down in the water to “See” where we are going.
• Snorkels are based off of snorkelling and of course free diving.
• Clearing A Breath" from the snorkel tube is super import as we breath out CO2 into the tube or we may get shallow water burnout.

Fins

• Diving fins allow us to move easily and freely.
• They are normally Open Heel”, to allow the use of boots. to propel through the water.
• Correct name is the ful foot fin, and you may see these used in warmer waters.
• “Frog Kick", as in breaststroke swimming technique, is important.
• The “Flutter Kick" is used with more divers in a kicking position, saving more energy and allowing less effort from the diver.

Weight Systems

• Weights are needed as most people are boyant in some form.
• Should balance the weight evenly across your hips when using, not all at the back.

Bouyancy

• Most BCD's have adjustable quick release straps, a LPI or low-pressure auto inflator button.

Diving Theory

• Dive Theory covers the Academic study required to become a certified scuba diver, and without it, one will have no where to elevate afterwards.
• The ITDA use the clssroom attitue of low stres learning allowing stuents to discover all important factors in safe diving.
• Dive Theoty involves safely using equipement, physics and physology applied to diving, planning tables and emergencies, evnironmental diving.

Common Risks

• Always partly the reason that inexperienced divers have accidents – Stay Calm – Breath!.
• Always remember to educate,train more through skills, assesmant, eval, and never only sell a cert.

Risks Assessment

• Assess to identifiy.
• 2 action, take action against.
• Work withothers to develop a support team menatatlity -

Health For Diving

You will be considered a guardian of the underwater world because if we do not all take on the task of conserving and protecting the environment it may not be around for future generations to enjoy.

Pressure & Diving

• The eart's atmosphere reaches appro 50+ miles in length pressing on all surronding the earth.
• Air spaces that may cause a issue.
• This requires use to equalize using the valsalva technique so not to cause a serious injury.

Dive planning

• Use of dive tables is covered .the following needs to covered why to use, what RGBM is, what it is, how to use, and safely decompress.
• The human body is made of differet gases absorbin gas at rapid paces.
• Table use include contera indications a disease of the lung system.
• ITDA tavbles use RGBM models.
• The tables account for no dcompressure after for the descent time , table times, and more.

How Tables Work

• Bottom Time - Time of start decent totime of start ascent.
• Multi Leve Diviln can be implemented also.
• RN - Sit- Bt - AT - TD - Decomp.

Quiz Note

• A good note to make is that written ansswee need to be nearly or exactly equal to what th quiz says the anawers should be

Hand Signals

• Know what they are for.
• Ask for the "OK" signal.
• Know which guage redings are OK vs not OK.

Diving From Boats

• When diving off boats there should be a buoy in the water attached to the boat line so others know you are ok.
• Important safty equipment is the buoy for the boat, smb's and of course instruction!