First Time Nitrox Diving

[bdizzle]

As the title says, I am contemplating diving Nitrox on an upcoming trip to St. Croix this week.
I have my EAN cert, and have also picked up an analyzer (O2EII) from scubatoys.
After calibration with a regulator tank of air (20.9), and then finding the mix of the EAN tank, is there anything else I should know while in the water? Have also set computer to reflect the 1.4max PO2. Should I set it for 1.3 or lower??

Looking for all input/advise/suggestions at this point, as I am just nervous not having dove nitrox before. Any advise and help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks all for the help
-brandon

[fisheater]

If you have the certification, your questions about how to dive nitrox should have been answered in class. From your post, it's hard to understand what information you're looking for.

Have you talked again to your instructor?


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[bdizzle]

Rereading the books now but basically was looking for advise/input from people having dove nitrox what their first time experience was like and if I missed anything as far as safety goes, just a little nervous thats all

[flyandive]

1.4 is fine, as far as the dive goes, you won't even notice a difference. This is why agencies don't require training dives with it anymore. They were pointless. Some people claim they feel less tired afterward but it may just be a placebo.

[WB2GLP]

I've never found a need for a personal analyzer short of doing you're own blending. Places that rent nitrox tanks will have an analyzer or two in the shop or on the boat depending on where they store your tanks..

In a nutshell: Test your tanks, sign off on the mix, set your computer's %O2 accordingly before diving each tank. Repeat daily or as needed.

Don't forget to change your computer's %O2 between dives.

[TMHeimer]

Of course, you will probably know the depth of your dive. I always like to know how deep the maximum possible depth could be. It's not that I will then monitor my depth less diligently, but it's nice to know that you can't possibly exceed 1.4 ata without digging a hole in the bottom. If available, I will choose my O2 % based on a bottom not deeper than 1.4 as I will be on the bottom as a shell collector. If the mix I want isn't availble, there is always Air.

[bbarnett51]

Check your max depth. If your dive is going to put you close you might want to dive air then switch to nitrox fit the shallower dives to follow.

Set computer to 1.4 and your percentage then go diving. You won't notice a difference.

[Caryam]

I remember being very nervous on my first Nitrox dive last year. My instructor (or perhaps it was the PADI book,) had me quite frightened of the consequences of diving too deep or not knowing my mix.

I was nervous during the dive, but just tried to keep aware of my maximum depth, etc. The dive was uneventful, and over a couple of days my nervousness faded.

I was happy to find that diving EAN really does seem to be easier on the body. After four dives in a day I still had plenty of energy in the evening -- something unheard of for me on air.

Good luck!

[bleeb]

Something to be aware of: Some computers will reset the O2 content to some 'conservative' default after a certain amount of time. IIRC some will do so if you don't start the dive within as little as 10 minutes. This can make both N2 and O2 calculations excessively conservative, in assuming you're both diving on air for NDL calculations while at the same time assuming you're diving on 50% or 100% O2 for the purposes of MOD calculations. This functionality has confused more than one diver the first few times they've dived with a computer in Nitrox mode.

[ScubaSteve1962]

Having your own analyzer isn't a bad thing, I actually ran into and instance where the ops wasn't working. Don't be nervous, you won't be able to tell the difference. It does make you less tired, I actually stay up 2 mins longer than I did when diving with o2