Many Questions

I hope you have the patience to help.

I have been certified for a few years, advanced open water. I have about 20 dives completed, all in the warm water. I took the advanced course in Grand Cayman as it allowed me the five dives with my own personal divemaster, it was great. I am a big guy so I have purchased by own BCD, and of course I have mask, fins and snorkel. I recently purchased a computer as I saw the benefits during my advanced course (thank you Divetech).

I am off to Aruba again in a couple of weeks and will dive a few times. I prefer one tank dives, or beach dives, as I get sick on the boat between dive one and dive two. I have gotten sick in the nicest places (Tobago, Aruba, Bay Islands and Hawaii). I am thinking about taking a Nitrox course as I understand it makes for a little easier diving and I am getting a little older (50). Also, I have a trip to French Polynesia planned for July and I am told that most of the dive operators there dive with enriched air.

Lastly, with the great places I have been to I don't have any decent pictures. I am a very careful diver as in my profession I see the worst that can happen to people and I want to be prepared.

I am looking for suggestions as to whether it is logical to take the Nitrox course since I only dive once or twice a year. Also, I really want to be able to take some great pictures and I am totally confused with all of the opinions out there. I would like to keep it simple but my mind is getting boggled when I see strobes, flashes, no strobes, etc. If I am going to get a camera I want to do it correctly while not spending a fortune. I have tried a very plain jane Olympus camera that is waterproof for snorkeling and the pictures were pretty lousy. That was in the Galapogos.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Probably a waste of time.

If you were going somewhere and wanted to do 4 dives a day for a week then diving Nitrox would be very beneficial, or if you had a deeper dive for around 60 minutes on air the next dive after your surface interval on Nitrox would help again. So will you be diving like that on your vacations? If you are just going to do a couple of 40 minute morning dives a few times a week then it's not much benefit?

Half of photography is about the light that is available. It is easier to take good photos where there is an abundance of ambient light. If there is little ambient light you have to bring your own in terms of strobes and focus lights. And that gets expensive. One option is to travel to places where there is light.

Nitrox is mostly a benefit for dives from 70-110 fsw. NDLs are significantly enhanced in this range. If you are doing less than 60 fsw dives once a day there is not much to be gained.

I think it makes sense to take the Nitrox class, the info is good to have. Then you'll have the option to dive Nitrox and the knowledge to decide if you want to for any particular dives.

Greetings medic5 and welcome to Scuba Board! I hope you find the answers to your questions. A few tips would be to take your time and research carefully before you take your next photography step. Just adding a camera to diving is task loading and requires training to really get a hold of techniques. You never want to compromise your safety.
You can get some great pics. with a 5.0 pix point and shoot with a housing. I bought my Sony Cyber Shot on EBay along with the housing from Bejing China. It was very interesting but have about $275. in the whole thing. I have taken mostly diver photo's and a few fish / scenery shots. The ambient light is critical and 25' to 30' is pretty good but it get's challenging at deeper depths. I have experimented without a strobe at 100'+ but you have to be close and it can be difficult to hover and be steady. Which leads to the biggest issue with photography, "BUOYANCY"! You need to have good buoyancy pinned down because you will find yourself up or down while concentrating on the shot.
My advice would be to buy a kit camera to start, camera and housing or go the used route and troll Ebay to find the two. Take your time and train with it not pushing it when it comes to advanced dives. Slow and steady wins the race, keep it simple stupid does make sense. I try to not add anything to my diving without training with it before and ensuring my safety and my buddies.
As far as NITROX I would do it just because I like the benefit's EAD's and NDL's and most of all the way it makes you feel after repetitive dives. It can make a big difference when making 3 to 4 dives a day. Good luck and enjoy your research.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!
Feel free to PM for any specific questions and I will try to help any way I can.

Go for it.

Mr Carcharodon:

Half of photography is about the light that is available.

Click to expand...

And the other half is having excellent buoyancy control. (Not just "adequate" or "passable" buoyancy control.)

Most divers would do well to simply leave their cameras on dry land until they've really got their buoyancy really dialed in.

There has been some good responces to your question! The great thing about diving education is it is up to yourself! You get out what you put in! I say do it , education only helps.
At the end of a good EAN course you will have alot info to make you an informed diver!
Practice may not be easy to do with less than ?10 dives a year. (I don't know if that is right) Having information to be able to answer the queston yourself will help you as a diver! Good luck!
See you topside! John

The nitrox course is easy and it will provide you with additional scuba knowledge and a few more options. I would take the course for these reasons alone. Additionally you will, under proper circumstances, be afforded more bottom time or less surface interval, or a modified combination of both. The idea that nitrox will be "easier on you" or make you feel "more energized" are scientifically unsupported and may be a placebo effect - if you expect nitrox to ease your dive, maybe it will. Another factor to consider is that on most commercial dive boats the dive time and surface interval are planned for you - you may be due back on the boat before you have been able to take advantage of the nitrox or the dm will require you to sit out the interval with the air divers. You also might be buddied with an air diver and his no-deco bottom time will dictate the dive. And another factor - if you are ending your dive because you are low on air and not low on no-deco time, then the nitrox won't help you anyway. Your air consumption needs to be low enough to allow you to go beyond the air no-deco time. Also with nitrox there will be additional tasks - analyzing the gas, determining maximum operating depth, setting your computer to reflect the % O2, and monitoring your depth accordingly. All this said I would definitely take the nitrox course with reasonable expectations. Nitrox is very useful in the 60' - 80' depth range where you can add significantly to your bottom time. And more knowledge and skill can't hurt.