Why get Nitrox certified?

[Teller]

Brac Reef Resort on Cayman Brac has a great special. If you book by March 31st they have a 7nt, all inclusive with 17 dives for $1635. Airfare for us out of Columbia, SC was $633/ea. Gets excellent reviews on Trip Advisor. We booked through Maduro Dive vacations. When we went to Bonaire last summer the most dives we did was 17 over 6 diving days. Bonaire is awesome. We stayed in Coral Paradise Resort. $2084 for 7nts, rental truck, unlimited shore dives through Buddy Dive + 6 boat dives. (free nitrox), and pickup from airport. Gated property, next door to Capt Dons. We will go back again one day.

I think your experience level must be greater than 0-24 then. You might want to update your profile. Because with these 2 trips alone, you've gotten in 33 at least! Oh I see, you haven't gone to Cayman Brac yet. But you're already Nitrox certified?

This reminds me, I need to start a new thread about Nitrox...

Here's a diver with 0-24 dives who's already Nitrox certified. I just wonder, I know that the reason to use Nitrox is to be able to spend longer under water. But is the advantage that great that one should consider it early in one's diving career? I think of Nitrox as kind of an advanced thing, but maybe it isn't.

Let's say you're out on a boat with 10 other divers and a DM, and the dive is to 70 fsw, and everybody is following the DM to the dive site, and surfacing together afterward. Does it spoil the dive if all but one of the divers is using nitrox, and the whole group has to surface 20 minutes early because the one guy isn't Nitrox certified?

Besides, Nitrox makes me nervous. I mean, I don't want to have a seizure. They say that isn't a concern if you don't go below the MOD, but still... It just makes me prefer to stay with EAN21.

Nitrox is a great tool to have. More bottom time, less surface interval and youll more than likely feel a bit more energized after a dive. Keep it above 1.4 PPO2 and youll be fine.

 

[RTee]

Nitrox is a great tool to have. More bottom time, less surface interval and youll more than likely feel a bit more energized after a dive. Keep it above 1.4 PPO2 and youll be fine.

Probably meant to say keep it below 1.4 PPO2...

 

[redacted]

The best reason is to reduce your risk of decompression sickness ( DCS ).

Using nitrox to reduce the risk of DCS is like driving at 5mph rather than 10mph to reduce the risk of an accident.

 

[theduckguru]

In a world where learning dive computers over dive tables is the training progression, there is really no reason not to teach nitrox as part of the OW course. They have to diiferentiate the air/nitrox mode operations anyway.

If you are the 2 dive a day vacation diver, don't waste your money on nitrox training or diving nitrox.

 

[FPDocMatt]

The best reason is to reduce your risk of decompression sickness ( DCS ).

Yeah, you're the second person in this thread to point that out. I was unaware of this, but it makes perfect sense.

So, does that mean that the risk of the bends is reduced for the same depth and time dive, or reduced overall? That is, if I dive enough longer at EAN so that my compartments are as percent saturated as they would have been using AIR at a lower interval, the risk of the bends is the same, correct? Or does the fact that I've been breathing a higher percentage of oxygen somehow reduce the risk even further?

Uh oh, I bet I just sparked one of those 10-page discussions among the cognoscenti. :depressed:

---------- Post added at 07:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ----------

Probably meant to say keep it below 1.4 PPO2...

As a student of language and grammar, I find this quite interesting. Teller obviously meant physically above the point where a ppO2 is 1.4, but it sure reads the other way too.

 

[beaverdivers]

Yes, the risk of DCS is reduced for the same profile - depth & time if you use an Enriched Air Nitrox ( EAN ) of 32%, for instance, than a nitrox mix of 21% ( air ).

Yes, the risk is the same if you go to the "max" of mix, not that you want to take it to the "max".

Yes, we are approaching the point where nitrox is becoming integrated into Open Water.

Yes, you should dive nitrox on every dive, even if you are just doing one or two dives a day. Ok, if you are going no deeper than 40' then a 21% of nitrox works.

In the old days prior to the 70's, divers were taught that you could not get bent on a one tank dive because they were

using 72 cu. ft. tanks.

Then 80 cu.ft. tanks became the standard and yes you can bend yourself on an 80. ( and yes, you may be able to get " Bent " on a 72 if you really try! )

Yes, you can get DCS even if you have a high workload and can NOT stay down to the limit of mix, 21%.

 

[racerx_]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but basically whatever depth you're at on nitrox has an equivalent air depth (EAD). So if you're at 20meters with EAN32 it could be like diving 15meters on air in terms of how much nitrogen you are absorbing at that depth (I don't have the tables with me so this isn't an accurate measurement, just an example). If you were using EAN36, then that would be again a different EAD.. perhaps 13meters, etc.

So you take on only that much nitrogen, which means your no deco time is extended. You can still get bent from a shallower dive just like you could from a deeper dive, but its definitely lowering your risk factor for whatever depth you are at since the nitrogen loading is less. Your dive profile affects the possibility of DCS too, though, so nitrox isn't a magic solution for eliminating the bends.

But for sure when someone else needs a longer surface interval to off gas, or would be in deco underwater you'll be still diving or ready to jump back in the water. Does that answer your question?



Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk

 

[FPDocMatt]

If you are the 2 dive a day vacation diver, don't waste your money on nitrox training or diving nitrox.

This weekend I'll be at Sunset House on Grand Cayman for 4 nights. I'll be doing one dive the day of arrival, 2 dives a day on the boat for 3 days, the rescue course each afternoon for 3 days (which I understand involves maybe one dive total?), and will attempt to find a buddy for a shore dive the first 2 evenings. Let's see, that will be about 10 dives. Since I'll be diving air, we'll see how long my new Mares Puck computer allows me to stay down on each dive.

 

[grantwiscour]

It's a good time to practice those dive tables too Matt though with your tenacity for scuba the dive tables are probably close at hand.

Enjoy your trip. It sounds like a blast! :shades:

 

[FPDocMatt]

One (and I think the only reasonable one) response is that it costs money -- generally around $100 - $125 (materials and course). If that is too much money to spend to get a little more education then don't get Nitrox certified.

BUT, if paying 1 1/2 Scuba Bucks is within the budget, do it -- especially if you can a course from an instructor who is willing to go beyond the cookbook course.

So 1 Scuba Buck = $100?

---------- Post added at 08:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 PM ----------

It's a good time to practice those dive tables too Matt though with your tenacity for scuba the dive tables are probably close at hand.

Enjoy your trip. It sounds like a blast! :shades:

Thanks! Yes, I'll have the RDP with me on the boat.

One thing I'd like to learn on this trip is the calculations regarding how much air I have left, at what point I should head for home, and all that. Several very helpful members of SB filled me in on it, and I read that web article about how to do the calculations, but I really need to review it again and practice it before I'll really know it.

And I'll have my new mask with the prescription lenses. So I'll actually be able to see.

Anyway, I'll be sitting in My Bar each day drinking smoothies and eating Indian food and posting on Scuba Board, so will be looking forward to sharing my vacation with my Scuba Board friends.