Does this sounds right? [Nitrox course]

[alicatfish]

I'm taking the ANDI Nitrox course. We're done with the quizzes and classroom portion and have to do the remaining 2 checkout dives.

The dive shop is having us do the dives by ourselves. No instructor. We have 25 dives under our belt - technically enough to dive alone. But I thought that an instructor would be there to plan our dives with us, or at least make sure we're planning our dives correctly. But, no; we're on our own.

The woman at the dive shop explained that specialty courses are "different" than OW and AOW. Obviously. But we're still here to learn something. If no one is going to be there to make sure that we're planning correctly, then why even bother with the check-out dive requirement?

In your experience, is this how the Nitrox courses works?

 

[Hemlon]

I'm not familiar with ANDI but the PADI EAN course that I took did not require ANY dives.

The only skills which we had to demonstrate competency in were analyzing the gas content of the tanks and using tables to plan dives.

 

[Jimmer]

Same with ACUC Nitrox, no dives, just do a gas analysis, and show that you can calculate MOD/EAD, and plan dives using your tables.

 

[Aardvark]

I did the PADI EAN course and had my two checkout dives with an instructor. The instructor reinforced that I'm responsible for the gas I'm breathing and ensured I followed procedure in relation to obtaining, analysing and labelling. Between dives we went through the tables (again) but there was no need for him to be in the water with me in training terms, it great to have a dive guide familiar with the site, though.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

SSI doesn't require a dive for the EAN course, either; at least it didn't when I took Nitrox.

So you could say, technically, the next few Nitrox dives after that were unsupervised check out dives.

J

 

[wedivebc]

I think the ANDI standard calls it "indirectly supervised" which can have a broad interpretation I am sure. Basically once the instructor has witnessed your dive plan and seen you analyze the gas and verified that the tanks are marked correctly there is really not much the instructor can add to the training in-water. Was this a CSU course or LSU?
There is a good write-up on this board about an ANDI CSU course taught by a friend of mine from Vancouver. I book marked it because every nitrox course should be this good.
http://scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=97330

 

[alicatfish]

They said they would have our tanks ready but there will be no instructor there to check our dive plan, calcs, or anything. I'll guess we'll see when we get there.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Marek K]

One of the requirements -- for PADI, anyway, and I'd bet everyone else -- is for the instructor to demonstrate real-world Nitrox analysis... and I'd bet it's also a requirement to have the student do it hands-on too; along with doing the necessary documentation resulting from the analysis (log, tank sticker). I hope your instructor did that with you already?

Ability to plan Nitrox dives -- mainly table use -- is tested in the classroom.

With no PADI dive requirement now, there's obviously no analysis or planning requirement for that first Nitrox dive you'll eventually be taking.

...why even bother with the check-out dive requirement?

Good question... unless it's a good deal for you to do the two dives as part of the package... and if it's not a good deal for you, it's probably a good deal for the shop!

--Marek

 

[Bubble Junky]

They said they would have our tanks ready but there will be no instructor there to check our dive plan, calcs, or anything. I'll guess we'll see when we get there.

I'm not familiar with the ANDI course myself but......
Did you do any diving planning in the class-room ? With PADI EANx, OW dives are no longer required (but still recommended), but students still have to plan two dives for the instructor.
Also have you been shown gas analysis in the class-room already ?

 

[dbulmer]

AlicatFish,
As others have said you are now in a position or should be in a position to plan your dive.

If you have any concerns about your buoyancy skills I personally would talk to your instructor about it. It looks like Andi standards require you to dive between 10 and 30 metres. I'm no instructor but it looks to me that you could plan a dive to 20m with your buddy (and then perhaps 15m) and fulfill the course requirements without putting yourself at too much risk assuming you have adequate buoyancy skills. (ie look for a shallow reef with a bottom on it)

I'm sure others more qualified than me will chime in soon. The thing is be prepared to can the dive if you are not comfortable.