nitrox sometimes and air sometimes

laserdoc · Apr 20, 2006

When people have a chance to say dive in Bonaire for a week,do you dive every dive for the week with Nitrox,,,or switch between nitrox for some dives and good old air for other dives. If you dive straight Nitrox for a week it could run into some extra cash at 15 bucks a tank. Also can I bounce back and fourth between the two with the same regulator.

H2Andy · Apr 20, 2006

i dove Bonaire on air alone, and did fine

yes, you can use the same reg for air (21% o2) and nitrox (up to 40% 02)

actually, you could also use the same reg for pure o2, though an o2 clean
regulator is reccomended for Nitrox above 40% (that basically means cleaning the
regulator components of hydrocarbons and other combustibles, and
making sure that the regs have oxygen-compatible o-rings and seals,
to avoid possible combustion)

laserdoc · Apr 20, 2006

H2Andy:
i dove Bonaire on air alone, and did fine

yes, you can use the same reg for air (21% o2) and nitrox (up to 40% 02)

actually, you could also use the same reg for pure o2, though an o2 clean
regulator is reccomended.

Well why then dive nitrox at all then. Except if I plan to do 5 dives a day maybe??

H2Andy · Apr 20, 2006

or to extend your bottom time on whatever dives you end up doing

also, some people say you end up less tired after a long week of diving

laserdoc · Apr 20, 2006

Yes but do some dive straight Nitrox all week long or switch back and forth.Like I said,,,it could run into some bucks.Did you only dive air all week long?? How many times a day did you dive??

johnny_bravo · Apr 20, 2006

Laserdoc most of the resorts in Bonaire offer unlimited nitrox fills with their shore diving packages.

I'm sure even if you stay outside of a resort you can get a package from a dive op so you don't have to pay for every nitrox tank fill.

Cheers.

-J.-

riguerin · Apr 20, 2006

laserdoc:
When people have a chance to say dive in Bonaire for a week,do you dive every dive for the week with Nitrox,,,or switch between nitrox for some dives and good old air for other dives. If you dive straight Nitrox for a week it could run into some extra cash at 15 bucks a tank. Also can I bounce back and fourth between the two with the same regulator.

If you're doing multiple dives over multiple days, then reaching an O2 exposure limit may be a possible concern for you, depending on your dive profiles. As you know, you need to keep track of this in addition to your N2 exposure. Where you potentially run into problems is if you don't have a nitrox capable computer. For example, the DSAT O2 exposure tables have a very course credit mechanism ... you basically should wait 24 hours for a dive to fall off for purposes of calculating exposure.

Bottom line is that you'll want to use a mix that is appropriate for the dive that you are planning. For purposes of extending bottom time, nitrox has the most benefit in the approx 60-90 ft range. For shallower dives, there may not actually be an advantage to using nitrox over air, as gas capacity/consumption may in fact be the limiting factor on bottom time.

El Orans · Apr 20, 2006

Last year on Bonaire, I had a free Nitrox upgrade and loved it. Only used air for a deep dive.

RumBum · Apr 20, 2006

It would be okay to use Nitrox on your morning dives and air on your afternoon/evening dives. Using Nitrox on the first couple of dives will give you less residual nitrogen for the afternoon dives, allowing you to still reap the benefits of longer bottom time (well, longer than diving all air.)
Bouncing back and forth is not a problem as long as you analyze the tank before each dive and set your computer correctly for what mix you are actually diving (if you are topping off a Nitrox tank with air.)

WarmWaterDiver · Apr 20, 2006

You don't necessarily have t pay for Nitrox by the tank on Bonaire. You can get 'unlimited Nitrox' dive packages as well, so the incremental $$$ / tank vs. air are significantly reduced. This is the option we took when we visited Bonaire. Now it's listed as 3 tanks / day max from that dive operator but it's also now listed as a free upgrade on any six consecutive day package. I think we paid $99 / each for the 'unlimited Nitrox' package two years ago.

http://www.dive-friends-bonaire.com/rates.html#free_nitrox

We stayed at the Bellafonte and the Caribbean Court shop location was just on the opposite side of the airport and around the corner from the Bellafonte. If we go back, the Port Bonaire location is even closer to the Bellafonte!

Next stop was Curacao - and we had unlimited air fills on that package - but it was hyperfiltered air - O2 compatible air - so no worries from us switching back to air there.

nitrox sometimes and air sometimes

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