Deep Diving without Nitrox

[Bubble Junky]

two dives where you are thinking about your depth constantly because you have only just been talking about the possible consequences are more likely to stick in your mind than something you were told in the classroom 6 months ago amongst all the other guff.

I'm with you on this one. But the dives are still recommended, and I think the instructor will have to make a call on each student.. The instructor can look at the experience level of each student and then decide whether he feels they need the dives or not. I will still be recommending the dives to my students, for the very reason you mentioned above.

 

[cummings66]

I don't know about you, but when the instructor points out in bold print in the book the part that says you go deeper than this and tox you die, that's something you remember. I feel that diving it will NOT imprint the fact you can die, but seeing it and having the instructor reinforce it multiple times will allow you to remember it.

If a person is incapable of remembering the fact that it's possible to die, then diving 2 times is not going to imprint it either. Consider the fact that what's more valuable than your own life? If you can't remember something important where it's stated in bold print and verbally that you can die, and most likely will if you tox then diving is not for you. How stupid can a person be?

 

[Somethin-Fishey]

So in this case the only advantage will be a short Surface Time Interval.

I will use the 1.4 ATA mark.

Another is multiple dives, we dive 3 to 4 tanks a day, on air, we would have a 3 week surface interval and a 3 minute bottom time (Yes, I'm being sarcastic) With Nitrox, I have about 80 mnutes surface and still get 30 or so minutes down.

Dive 1 110' 48 minutes BT 64min SI
Dive 2 102' 53 minutes BT 76min SI
Dive 3 94' 48 minutes BT 94min SI
Dive 4 73' 56 minutes BT

Try that on air...you're computer will be beeping at you or worse, I know for a FACT my mares locked out sometime during the 2nd or 3rd dive, but it was set to air and I was using it as a backup bottom timer only. Tanks were LP 120's jacked up to 3600psi (175CF) and steel 120's Jacked to about 150CF, first dive was on 28% and the rest were on 32% (But dive 2 was light...31.6 I think) My Cochran lets you set O2 to the tenth, so I don't worry too much about rounding errors.

 

[geordie-dive-pro]

the chances are all deep divers will be nitrox certified it comes with the learning,but how deep r u talking about? <30meters, or >50m+ then that become tech diving which is a whole new ball game. nitrox is nice to dive on if its going to be a tough dive i.e. strong currents. just by giving ur body that little bit more 02, i.e 32%mix instead of 21% makes a working dive so much easier. but will give u a shallower dive.

 

[crispix]

I realize I could probably look this up in the DAN reports, but does anyone know what percent of dive fatalities are due to oxygen toxicity? (Or does it simply get labeled as a "drowning"?) I would guess that on the list of bad things that happen, this must be pretty infrequent for recreational Nitrox. Heck, doesn't your computer beep like crazy when you get to 1.4 O2?

 

[String]

I think that the dives not being required is a shame. Dive training and dive experiance are not mutually exclusive, they should go hand in hand. What's next, an open water course with no pool time or dive time? I think it's a mistake...

OW course requires in water diving skills which are new to the diver. Diving with nitrox introduces no extra skills and requires no extra skill to those a diver already has. Why bother requiring dives when they teach nothing ?

 

[Santa]

Sure. I'm taking nitrox course tomorrow because I want a longer bottom time on Thistlegorm (30m, red sea) next week. Never had a reason to before - but also it's a liveaboard thing with lots of dives over several days - and in that context minimizing nitrogen uptake is attractive.

 

[miketsp]

You may end up doing the course and never actually using Nitrox but the course is good to have if you intend doing any deeper diving because it's really the first time that you have to start thinking about partial pressures and O2 toxicity as opposed to just N2 narcosis.