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Unless it is a square profile around 30m otherwise I won't consider using Nitrox at all.
I didn't commonly dive nitrox on vacation, but I had a friend get skin bends a few months back on a dive that looked perfect on paper. 5 of us did the same dive and she took the hit, even though based on things like fitness she was the last one you would have expected.
After observing what she went through in the chamber and recognizing that I'm not in the shape I once was, I've decided to add some extra conservatism to my life.
I’m curious as to why someone would bother with nitrox on one dive and air on the other? Why not both on air, or both on nitrox? What is the perceived need to only have one tank filled with nitrox?
I dive nitrox to NDLs and it does do something. Nitrox allows me to offgas more efficiently after a dive so I stay on Nitrox until I'm taking my rig off on the boat - this is 5 to 10 mins on Nitrox at the surface. There are two consequences. Firstly, the direct consequence is that I'm offgassing nitrogen more efficiently thereby reducing the risk of DCS. Secondly, the indirect consequence is that since I'm offgassing more efficiently than my computer expects, my computer is always calculating NDLs based on more nitrogen in my system than there actually is. This creates another layer of conservatism.only more conservative if you shorten the NDL's. Nitrox does nothing if you dive up to the NDL's so the conservatism can be built into air diving just as easily.
5-10 mins on EAN32 instead of air is irrelevant....I dive nitrox to NDLs and it does do something. Nitrox allows me to offgas more efficiently after a dive so I stay on Nitrox until I'm taking my rig off on the boat - this is 5 to 10 mins on Nitrox at the surface. There are two consequences. Firstly, the direct consequence is that I'm offgassing nitrogen more efficiently thereby reducing the risk of DCS. Secondly, the indirect consequence is that since I'm offgassing more efficiently than my computer expects, my computer is always calculating NDLs based on more nitrogen in my system than there actually is. This creates another layer of conservatism.