Nitrox

[g1138]

It depends on your dive profile plan for the day.

Grab a Table and plan it out.
You could opt for short dives and short surface intervals. Or long dives with shortened surface intervals.
Depending on depth, this would influence you as well.

 

[swimmer_spe]

It depends on your dive profile plan for the day.

Grab a Table and plan it out.
You could opt for short dives and short surface intervals. Or long dives with shortened surface intervals.
Depending on depth, this would influence you as well.

I never really thought of that.

I think I have some work to do.

 

[boulderjohn]

I just did the trip you are describing two months ago with two friends. We used nitrox on every dive. We were the only ones on the boat who did so.

We did 11 dives in 3 days, and the dive sites generally started pretty shallow and got shallower. They pretended there is a PADI rule requiring each successive dive to be shallower then the one before. (There used to be such a recommendation, but it has been considered obsolete for over a decade.) They had a number of other policies that limited both your dive times and your procedures (like a mandatory 5 minute safety stop instead of 3). I believe their goal was to make sure that there was no way on Earth that anyone could possibly get DCS on the trip. I believe our group generally did our dives deeper than the rest and stayed at those depths longer, but I can't be sure. If I am right, that was the only advantage to the nitrox on a dive by dive basis.

On the other hand, if we go into the realm of the unproven and possible placebo effects....

I did the same trip 13 years ago, when I was younger and fitter. I did roughly the same dives, and I did them all on air. Every night I was thoroughly exhausted. On the last night I got up from the dinner table before dessert and slept through the night. On this trip I was having a wonderful time chatting with people well into the night each night.

 

[KeithG]

The benefit of using Nitrox is that it exposes you to less nitrogen than dive with "air". This provides some advantages:

It extends your allowed bottom time.
It reduces any need to "push" or get near the air no decompression limits.
It reduces your overall nitrogen load on multiple dives.

I personally find it less fatiguing diving multiple dives with Nitrox fills.

I hate to be the scuba police, BUT...
Nitrox will either
- extend your bottom time
OR
- reduce your need to push the NDL limits.
It can not do both at the same time. Choose 1 or the other. They are mutually exclusive. There is no free lunch.

 

[swimmer_spe]

I hate to be the scuba police, BUT...
Nitrox will either
- extend your bottom time
OR
- reduce your need to push the NDL limits.
It can not do both at the same time. Choose 1 or the other. They are mutually exclusive. There is no free lunch.

Please explain?

 

[nimoh]

I hate to be the scuba police, BUT...
Nitrox will either
- extend your bottom time
OR
- reduce your need to push the NDL limits.
It can not do both at the same time. Choose 1 or the other. They are mutually exclusive. There is no free lunch.

If using nitrox extends your NDL by 15 minutes, but you only lengthen your dive by 5 minutes then you have done both.

 

[DiveNav]

Nitrox will either
- extend your bottom time
OR
- reduce your need to push the NDL limits.

Correction .....

Nitrox will either:
- extend your bottom time
OR
- make a dive more conservative
OR
- reduce surface interval

 

[hroark2112]

I know this is a dumb question....but...

Are you nitrox certified?

 

[boulderjohn]

I know this is a dumb question....but...

Are you nitrox certified?

What difference does that make?

I got the sense that he is trying to decide whether or not getting certified for the trip would be worth it. I was asked the same question while on my trip by one of the air divers--what advantage was I getting that justified the additional cost? Even though I am normally a huge advocate of diving nitrox, I had to admit that with all the restrictions in place on our diving on that trip, there was not nearly as much of an advantage as I expected there to be. I have, on the other hand, done several other liveabord trips where the difference was enormous, and I thought the people diving air were foolish to spend the money for the trip and not spend a few more bucks to get so much more out of it. On this trip, I felt a little foolish.

 

[swimmer_spe]

I know this is a dumb question....but...

Are you nitrox certified?

No. I am considering it, if it will give me more time in the water at depth.

Why should I get another certification if it will not matter.

Can someone do a comparison between air and nitrox? Do it for 6 dives, max depth of 80 feet, with SI of 1 hour, starting diving at the same time every morning.

How much more in water, at depth time would I get?