On June 11, 1910 one of the greatest pioneers of the scuba industry was born. Jacques Cousteau was born and it would only take him about 30 years to start making changes to diving of an Underwater Breathing Apparatus (UBA). For underwater filming, Cousteau created the first Aqua-lung in 1943. This unit would become the precursor to the breathing apparatus that we use today. Those units were double hose regulators, single manifold on the back where it would exhaust. It was also one of the first open circuit designs that was successful. Remember that “open circuit” means that every breath is exhaled into the water. This was a change from the original UBA’s because they were closed circuit. Meaning that no gas escaped into the water. CO2 was “scrubbed” out of the gas and O2 was added back into the mix to support life. That original Aqua-Lung would be refined a couple of times over till we were scuba diving with the single hose regulator that most of us dive with now. Sure, these pieces of equipment are safer, more reliable and believe it or not, easier to work on. We as divers have come to expect the ease of breathing and the comforting, relaxing feeling of breathing underwater. No longer do we have to physically breath to get air into our lungs at depth. All this started with a man, that wanted to improve the technology that was out there so more people could scuba dive. He wanted to open the doors and wonderment of mankind. Which I do believe is why he made the movies he did. To excite our senses and make us want to be underwater explorers. So in his memory, take up his passion. Don’t let that nagging doubt keep you from exploring. We are in a better place with the equipment we have to explore with. We need explorers to take up the passion of this sport and have a desire to be part of this planet. Don’t loose the passion to explore. Cousteau passed it down to everyone he met. Mike Shea ScubaShea.com