getting nitrox certified while on vacation?

[krick]

I've just booked a 7 day trip to the Bahamas on the Juliet in October...

http://www.sailjuliet.com/

This will be my first time doing a liveaboard.

I have NAUI AOW certification and Rescue Diver under my belt and about 70 total dives so far.

I was thinking about getting Nitrox certified before my trip. However, the Juliet has a NAUI instructor on board and offers Nitrox certification and Nitrox fills for the whole trip for $150. This seems like a bargain when you consider that they charge $100 for 7 days of Nitrox alone. And my LDS charges $75 for a Nitrox class.

Would I benefit from using Nitrox on this trip? Supposedly they can do 3-5 dives a day depending on the conditions.

I'm seriously considering it but I wanted to get some opinions before I made any decisions.

 

[Damselfish]

Don't know the depths but 3-5 a day sounds like a good time to use Nitrox. 4-5 a day on air good chance you will be running up against your NDLs. Some liveaboards offer these good deals for Nitrox cert and fills for the week, personally I'd take advantage of it.

 

[jiveturkey]

I agree. You should go for it. You'll get lots of practice too. I'm jealous.

 

[djkpsu]

I third the motion. Considering I just did my nitrox cert last week, and it was ~$150 just for the course and the 2 dives.

 

[mac_diver]

I did my nitrox cert on a liveaboard a couple of years ago. Nitrox really did help with my NDL's for the 4 and 5th dive everyday. Taking the class gave me something to do on the SIT's. There is not much to do other than eat, nap, or read when not diving.

The only benefit to taking the class before hand is that you get to dive nitrox from day 1. I believe it was day 3 before we could dive nitrox.

Have fun.

 

[Don Burke]

Would I benefit from using Nitrox on this trip? Supposedly they can do 3-5 dives a day depending on the conditions.

It sure sounds like it. The price sounds good too.

I'm seriously considering it but I wanted to get some opinions before I made any decisions.

See if you can do the bookwork before you get there.

 

[goodknight411]

i just did my Nitrox course while on vacation. I had already done the book work, so all we did was one afternoon have a sit down, go over the reviews, and take the test. The next day we made our regularly scheduled dives on nitrox (after verifing the fill, blah, blah, blah) and voila! Certified Nitrox diver.

Go for it. Just get the book ahead of time. THe math can get tricky for some (not me, others in my class, like a PADI Instructor )

 

[mike_s]

This is a GOOD deal.

To compare, the Nekton boats "gouge" their cusomters for Nitrox for a week at $240 or $250 per week, without the class. (I can see charging $100/week or maybe a little more, they charge way too much)

 

[TheDom]

Go for it man! Nitrox is awesome for extending your NDL's which means more diving --> more fun! It's not a very intense course, just a little more math and a lot of diving to gain from it. Have fun man, I'm jealous!

 

[jakubson]

Go for it!! Nitrox is perfectly suited for liveaboard dive schedules, given the shorter surface intervals if you do 5 dives a day.