Brian Huff
Contributor
...is Nitrox a benefit...
Yes.
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...is Nitrox a benefit...
I have a hard time understanding why anybody would want to get closer to their NDL than necessary. To each their own.And by "worth it" I mean, in your opinion, what type of diving (frequency, etc) is Nitrox a benefit, etc. I've done a little research into this and figured as part of that research I might as well ask for opinions here amongst veteran divers and those who have used Nitrox. My wife and I are going to take our first trip to Bonaire this January. Super excited by the way. We are both experienced divers but have never felt we had the "need" for Nitrox certification since we've mostly done boat dives with charters or on our own and seldom dive deep, preferring longer bottom times.
As soon as we told our local people here we were going to Bonaire, the first thing they said is, "You should get Nitrox certified." They explained, and I found through my research, the benefits of shortened surface interval times and all that, which I understand. But really, my question is this, "How much diving do you need to be doing to NEED the shortened interval times? And to what extent is it worth the cost to certify, etc.?" I guess I'm trying to weigh the realistic amount of diving frequency while we're there with the cost of $300 bucks to get us both certified before we go. Realistically, I see us doing a couple dives before lunch each day, having a surface interval that involves stopping somewhere to eat and taking our time there, then doing one or two in the afternoon (depending on if we feel like hanging out at the pool or not, haha), including a couple of night dives while we're there. We'll be diving for 6 days. I know each person's dive profile and all that factor into the equation, but the sites there are pretty set in relative depth, etc and most people I would guess would have similar profiles for reef/shore diving there. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you!
Honestly there is NO downside to having your Nitrox certification. You will use it. If you're only doing 2 dives a day... maybe it's not all that important. 4 a day, definitely.
Nitrox is really becoming the recreational dive gas. There are dive operators and boats that are now "Nitrox Only." They just don't do air anymore. I just got back from Grenada and the op there recently removed their surcharge for Nitrox. It's the same price as air. The owner told me after the 1st of the year, he was going to add a surcharge to air instead in an effort to eliminate it from his business.
The certification is inexpensive and well worth it.
-Charles