Nitrox - Is it "worth it"?

[tbone1004]

@ICatchBadGuys what was said above is the real answer. Nitrox is worth it IF you hit the NDL time before you run out of gas. If you run out of gas first, then at least on that specific dive, there was no justification in diving nitrox as far as extending your dive time. There may be other fringe benefits, but that's up to you to figure out. Unfortunately without knowing the specific dive plans, your SAC rates, and which computer set to which conservatism setting, it's largely impossible to determine if there will be a direct benefit in your dive time.
In general, as I'm sure was also said above, is that it doesn't hurt to have lower inert gas loading as you go up through the week and it is highly unlikely that you won't go up against the NDL's before you hit gas limits. One potential exception to that is if you're doing mostly shore dives and if so, you basically dive until you hit NDL, then start coming up shallower and shallower "riding the ndl" until you run out of gas if you can get into areas shallower than 30ft where there are things worth looking at.

 

[charlesml3]

Tell that to Dick Rutkowski Dick Rutkowski - Wikipedia. I've only been nitrox certified since 2002, I was hardly on the cutting edge

I've always been one of those that watched the technology of diving and back when Nitrox was just being discussed I became interested. It just made so much sense. More O2, less Nitrogen. Anyway, I was at my LDS around then and talking with one of the techs there and the owner overheard me ask about Nitrox. I'll never forget it. He said "What? Nitrox? No. No way in hell we'll ever pump that Devil Gas here!"

Yes. Devil Gas. I have no earthly idea where he came up with that name. 10 years later, they're filling more Nitrox tanks than air.

 

[charlesml3]

Because if I'm on a dive vacation and get insta-buddied with someone diving air while I'm on nitrox, then there's going to be an issue.

Wouldn't you have exactly the same issue if both of you are on the same gas, but your insta-buddy has considerably higher gas consumption than you?

 

[Manatee Diver]

Yes. Devil Gas. I have no earthly idea where he came up with that name. 10 years later, they're filling more Nitrox tanks than air.

Nitrox is "Voodoo gas" trimix is the "Devil gas." At least that is what trimix divers tell me, as it is hell on their bank accounts.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
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. . . .

Bonaire, where the OP is planning a trip, is just such a place. Almost all the ready-to-go tanks are filled with Nitrox. Pretty much everyone dives Nitrox on Bonaire.

As others have said, Nitrox provides benefits that can be traded off against each other to the extent the diver wishes: longer bottom times; shorter surface intervals; or increased safety margin. On Bonaire, you might typically do two morning dives with an hour surface interval between them, take an hour or two lunch break, do two afternoon dives with an hour surface interval between them, and a few hours after that maybe a night dive, every day for a week. If you want those dives to be long, or if you would rather shorten the surface interval, Nitrox is the ticket. Alternatively, if your typical dive is to a modest 60 ft. for a modest 45-50 minutes, you could get peace of mind that breathing Nitrox is increasing your safety margin over what it would have been had you done the same dives breathing air.

 

[Snodge]

I used to have the "I don't think it's worth it" mentality but because my wife got certified I eventually did also in order to follow the same dive profiles. It's definitely been worth it to me.

We use it for two main reasons. One is because it gives us longer ndl times at deeper depths. When we're on a dive trip and the scheduled dive is say a wreck or wall at 100' we'll switch off air and use nitrox so we can spend more time down deep. A typical dive in this catagory is "El Aguila" on Roatan with a max depth of 110'. On air we only had a short time to explore but with nitrox we have more time. One thing to think about is with a guided group will everyone be on nitrox and if not will the DM allow you dive a different profile. Because we've been diving for years with the same DMs they allow us to do this. At an operation where you are unknown they may not want that.

And then the other benefit we noticed was on subsequent dives our ndl's aren't as limited as with air. We had noticed that on air during afternoon dives we sometimes (after extended times at depth on first dive) ended up having to go up off the reef to avoid hitting ndl limits. It seemed like about 3/4 of time into a dive there would always be a depth, often in the 35'-30' range that our computers (suunto) "liked". We'd be down below 5 min ndl and as we ascended, hitting say, 34" feet the ndl display would suddenly jump to 15-20 min; drop down only a foot and it would go back to 5. The problem with this was that left us drifting along looking down at the reef (and other divers down there having fun!) from 10-15' above. Diving nitrox seems to minimize this, and is especially useful if we're doing repetitive daily dives. Usually on holiday trips we just do one morning dive then relax until the afternoon dive getting in a good long surface interval. If we're doing three dives we'll usually make the switch off air. I think most of the people doing 4-5 dives a day are by necessity using nitrox.

We both also agree that you feel less fatigued after using nitrox.

 

[Mike Walker]

Purely anecdotal but I think there can be a tendency to overthink this (at least within the realm of the recreational diver):

1) Since doing the Nitrox course I have only dove a significant amount of air on one trip (due to a mix up with the marketing agency). The dives were not particularly deep nor the schedule particularly intense for the week but I found I was constantly needing to watch my NDL. It was running out much faster than the tanks were and it got very annoying (you don't notice until you've experienced the other side).

2) Conversely the shop I was staying at on my recent Bonaire trip viewed Nitrox as an exception. Most of their clients didn't need or ask for it. They were happy to provide, but I was the exception for asking for it. In retrospect, I probably didn't need it either looking at the profiles.
(And yes this directly conflicts with what is reported above - different perspectives...)

So, not hard and fast answer. The question is what is it worth to you?


Personally, I don't want to think/worry about it. Unless there is a depth issue on a particular dive I would not book anything else - the cost is trival compared to overall trip costs in my experience and it's always easy to sub back to air if you need to. With the card I can dive whatever is available, know I won't be the limiting factor in a group/buddy situation and focus on enjoying the other aspects of the activity. For most people gas planning is not the highlight of their dive experience - I like seeing that '99' on my computer.

 

[pauldw]

Perhaps your shop is charging more for the class than they should. It's literally read a booklet on your own, take a short test at the dive shop, and then show that you can a hold an analyzer against a valve stem while opening the valve and reading the number on an analyzer. There is no class to sit through, no dive to take (not even confined water); it shouldn't cost much.

 

[Damselfish]

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.

Well, it's not for "deep" diving depending how you define that. And it's all about longer bottom times. So...

I would get it done and not overthink this. Then you have it when you want it. Check what the cost is to do it in Bonaire. You may find cheaper certs and cheap or free Nitrox packages.

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

Echoing what I think has already been said, I would [Mod Edit] get the cert. It won't hurt you. Whether it is 'worth it' comes down to:

1) how many dives are you doing in a given day? The more dives you are completing, the more EANx becomes useful (On a liveaboard, where you may be doing 5-6 dives a day, it makes all the sense in the world. If you are only doing a max of 3 dives, less so.).

2) what is your typical gas usage? If you are limited by your NDL (particularly at depth) and not by gas usage, then EANx certs make sense.

3) what depths are you typically diving? Below 120' (130' actual), that tank of EANx on your back is poison.

4) cost? When there is an option, nitrox fills generally cost a bit more than air.

5) do you like yellow and green stripey things?