Should I Use Nitrox Diving Socorro?

[akeary123]

Heading to Socorro next year in May. Just wondering if I should pay the extra cost to use nitrox? I've read dives can be deep, so I dont want to be restricted, but if those dives are rare nitrox might be the better option. Any recommendations, advice or information at all would be appreciated.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Depends on the depth really. Nitrox isn't exactly best for deep dives. Sure it reduces the amount of nitrogen loading but oxygen becomes toxic at depth. Higher levels of oxygen reduce the depth that you can dive safely. Max recommended for EAN32 is only about 120 ft. Around 100 for EAN36. So assuming you won't be going deeper than that, then nitrox might be a better option than standard air. But it only increases your NDL limits. It won't breathe any slower than normal air so it won't increase your bottom time. It will only decrease your surface interval.

 

[dlofting]

I'd recommend it as you'll be doing 3 to 4 dives a day for several days in a row. The deepest we went was 100 ft and that was not typical. The divemasters adjusted the mix based on the next planned dive but it was never greater than 32.

 

[jameseg]

I can't imagine doing any liveaboard without nitrox (other than perhaps certain wreck trips). Of course, my wife and I dive Suuntos, the most conservative computer out there, so it's pretty much required for us if we're doing 4 or 5 dives a day.

Just checked my log - we hit 102' twice on our Socorro trip. Other than those, dives maxed out in the 90s. We were on the Nautilus Under Sea, which was pumping 32%. So you're definitely fine on nitrox from a depth perspective, and I would absolutely recommend it for the extra dive time/safety margin. BTW, most of the manta interactions we had were significantly shallower - maybe 60' or so.

James

 

[Lorenzoid]

Heading to Socorro next year in May. Just wondering if I should pay the extra cost to use nitrox? I've read dives can be deep, so I dont want to be restricted, but if those dives are rare nitrox might be the better option.

What does your liveaboard recommend? Most offer a standard percentage that is appropriate for all the dives they will be offering during the trip. I can't imagine a responsible dive op would offer their guests 32% if their plan is to spend more than a momentary amount of time at a depth beyond 111 ft (PPO2=1.4).

 

[snowdog61]

We did Socorro off of the Nautilus Explorer. Nitrox - definite yes IMHO. We did a few dives that didn't require it but for the most part we were 80-100 a good portion of the dives. We had a few air-only in our group and they were relegated to having to go shallow towards the end of the deeper dives and missing a good portion of the manta activity. And, as previously stated, you'll likely be doing 4/day so.....

 

[Hoag]

I would strongly recommend diving NITROX in Socorro and staying shallower than 100'.

I did a trip to Socorro almost 10 years ago. On that trip, almost everybody dove NITROX. The boat had a "hard deck" of 100 feet and they checked everybody's computer at the end of every dive. If you went to 100 ft, then everything was OK. 101 ft however got you a 24 hour break from diving.

Here was their logic. They knew that this was an extremely conservative profile, but they would much rather inconvenience everybody a little by imposing these restrictions than to have everybody lose a day or more for everybody if one person gets bent.

The Socorro Islands are roughly 240miles from Cabo. This is beyond the range of most helicopters to do a trip out, pick up a bent passenger and fly back to the nearest chamber. That means that if somebody got bent, we would have to recall everybody who happened to be in the water at the time and head back toward Cabo. Somewhere enroute, we would reach a point where a helicopter could reach us and still make it back to land safely. No body would be able to dive until we got back to the Socorros sometime the next day. Everyone would lose a day while we were in transit.

I don't know if these restrictions are still in place, but they were when I went there.

 

[akeary123]

What does your liveaboard recommend? Most offer a standard percentage that is appropriate for all the dives they will be offering during the trip. I can't imagine a responsible dive op would offer their guests 32% if their plan is to spend more than a momentary amount of time at a depth beyond 111 ft (PPO2=1.4).

They offer nitrox as a extra charge which gives me the impression they might be chasing more money off guests. I only think this due to past experiences where I have been recommended to use nitrox and it was not needed. The mix they offer is between 30-32% but can be changed if requested. I have heard the hammerheads can be quite deep, this is the main reason I dont want to be restricted, but would like as much time as possible with the manta rays haha.

 

[akeary123]

We did Socorro off of the Nautilus Explorer. Nitrox - definite yes IMHO. We did a few dives that didn't require it but for the most part we were 80-100 a good portion of the dives. We had a few air-only in our group and they were relegated to having to go shallow towards the end of the deeper dives and missing a good portion of the manta activity. And, as previously stated, you'll likely be doing 4/day so.....

Good to know thanks for that. I think I will pay for the nitrox if thats the case. I couldn't imagine being on air going up before everyone else while they got to swim with something special.

 

[jameseg]

Good to know thanks for that. I think I will pay for the nitrox if thats the case. I couldn't imagine being on air going up before everyone else while they got to swim with something special.

Our "something special" was a 10 minute dolphin interaction right at the end of one of the dives. Would have really sucked to have missed that!

Hope you have a great trip!
James