Nitrox course without dives - what am I missing?

[Sas]

Well I've done the course now and I did not see any value in doing supervised dives. The course itself was very interesting, we did about 7-8 hours of theory and I felt the theory was very comprehensive. Coincidentally, on the first dive I used nitrox for after the course, my instructor was doing the same wreck dive so he was on the boat anyway and could see my correctly labelled tank as well as listen into my dive plan as I gave it to the boat crew, and then after the dive can also see what depth + time I signed off on if he really wanted to. Didn't really escape supervision after all

For instance, in many Florida locations such as the Keys one often has just a few minutes between dives to re-hydrate, chill, switch bottles, brag about the first dive, and plan the next dive while the skipper and crew set up on site two. In the excitement, swells, crowded dive boat, etc... it was always interesting to see how many buddy teams did not discuss their MOD and/or reset their computers for the second mix. Those who did received some positive reinforcement while those who didn't learned a great lesson about being detailed and slowing down before they began their second dive.

I also liked to use a different mix than my students and drop just a few feet below their 1.4 pp o2 threshold, make some noise with a rattle, then beckon then to come on down and see some mysterious but imaginary critter or whatever. Those who began the small descent got an earful, while those who signaled "no- must level off here" again got great praise.

I hope you fail students like this (or make them redo the dives). Do you have many students like this? As I have said prior, I doubt two dives with an instructor is going to fix the fact that some people can't listen to instructions. I know some people go beyond 1.4 pp O2 (or various other thresholds that are taught) threshold for various reasons during non-training dives, but it is pretty poor form if a student can't stick to the rules imposed on them during training dives!

 

[String]

Wouldn't say its worth "failing" them but its a strong point to reinforce in the debrief - that task loading can distract you and you can fall deeper by accident so highlight how important it is to monitor depth. Chances are they wont make the same mistake twice. Allowing people to "fail" then highlighting it afterwards is usually the best people to learn - stand back and let them make their own mistakes (within reason) then debrief what happened afterwards. Its more "real" than just reading from a rule book.

 

[matts1w]

Wouldn't say its worth "failing" them but its a strong point to reinforce in the debrief - that task loading can distract you and you can fall deeper by accident so highlight how important it is to monitor depth. Chances are they wont make the same mistake twice. Allowing people to "fail" then highlighting it afterwards is usually the best people to learn - stand back and let them make their own mistakes (within reason) then debrief what happened afterwards. Its more "real" than just reading from a rule book.

What String said...

 

[Sas]

Wouldn't say its worth "failing" them but its a strong point to reinforce in the debrief - that task loading can distract you and you can fall deeper by accident so highlight how important it is to monitor depth. Chances are they wont make the same mistake twice. Allowing people to "fail" then highlighting it afterwards is usually the best people to learn - stand back and let them make their own mistakes (within reason) then debrief what happened afterwards. Its more "real" than just reading from a rule book.

You must be a nicer instructor then than I would be if I happened to teach scuba

 

[CPT OZZY]

I just took the Nitrox course. My understanding is that if you do 2 dives as part of the class, that cert goes towards you Master Diver. Nitrox w/o the dives does not.

There are 2 Nitrox specialties:

Discover Enriched Air Nitrox PADI The Way The World Learns To Dive

And

Enriched Air Diver PADI Enriched Air Diver

If you read carefully, the first one does not mention Master Diver while the 2nd one does.

I did my Nitrox / EAN through NAUI. I was required to have two logged Nitrox dives before I could get my NAUI Nitrox card. I was not required to dive with my classroom instructor, I just did them with my regular dive buddy. The only reationale I could think of for the required Dives was to reinforce the didactic portion when your life is actually on the line

 

[Hatul]

The Nitrox online course I took is :

https://rabbit.he.net/~divesda/SDAnitrox.html

It's $80 plus a few other expenses to get the final certification.


You can even download the reference materials to your computer for future referral. It's all you need to use Nitrox safely.

Adam

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Better double check that card before you use it. Many of the shops listed on the site have never even heard of this outfit. And if you go to the RSTC site which I don;t think much of anyway. All members of that organization have agreed not to accept any of SDA's on line training. Many agencies that are not members of the RSTC will not recognize it either.

 

[Hatul]

I've used the card internationally and was never turned down.

Adam

 

[Randy43068]

I did my Nitrox / EAN through NAUI. I was required to have two logged Nitrox dives before I could get my NAUI Nitrox card. I was not required to dive with my classroom instructor, I just did them with my regular dive buddy. The only reationale I could think of for the required Dives was to reinforce the didactic portion when your life is actually on the line

I believe it was so the shop could screw you for the NITROX...