Question How to dive nitrox for the first time

[halocline]

Well to me at least, having to cut my bottom time short by as much as 30 minutes to accommodate air-only divers is a big problem. Especially if the dive charters that mix groups together will not permit buddies to surface after the group (or solo divers on their own).

Don't know where you get the idea that 'lots of divers use nitrox simply to lower their N2 loading' and why what lots of people do is even relevant because my personal preference to use it to shorten bottom times and/or surface intervals.

What you personally want out of nitrox on a given dive does not dictate what “any responsible operator” would need to do. How difficult is that to understand? This is my problem with responses like yours, which essentially establish rules of conduct for others based on your wishes or opinions. The fact is that using nitrox for a dive that others are doing on air is not unsafe, (as long as MOD limits are followed) it doesn’t violate any industry protocols, and I’ve seen divers do it dozens of times on recreational charters.

 

[NothingClever]

Well to me at least, having to cut my bottom time short by as much as 30 minutes to accommodate air-only divers is a big problem. Especially if the dive charters that mix groups together will not permit buddies to surface after the group (or solo divers on their own).

Name the charter operation and body of water that’s cutting your EANx dive short and making you surface with the air divers.

 

[Blackcrusader]

You're the one who is not understanding. This isn't about the safety of nitrox, it's about limitations imposed on nitrox divers by mixing them with air divers.

I've not had this issue in Asia. If paired up with divers on 21% and I am on nitrox I always tell the guide and divers I will dive to my own NDL and depth and they can simply ascend and be just above. No one has ever had an issue with this. Those divers might be at 15m depth while I am at 20m depth. Hardly a large separation. But if the group is on 60 minute dives we ascend together and if on unlimited dive time we do the safely stop together. Mostly with divers thats around a 75 minute dive if just me and a DM / guide then 90 minute dives. Normally on boat dives where you might have 20 divers in different groups a DM and I will just go first and come back last.

 

[Sascha314]

These are two different things:
Diving safely with EANx with or without mixed "x in the group.
Versus maximizing my own diving experience, aka max bottom time. Clearly in a group or even a buddy team one will limot the other. Of course bottom time will be limited primarily by a much smaller "X", because either no deco allowed or the deco time will be too large for a safe mimimim gas.

If you are complainig about the latter, I believe you have to consider
A) did I pay extra for Nitrox
B) Was it included and did I have a choice

If A) and you arw mixed with an Air diver or did have to ascend because of the NDL of an Air diver, you should complain to the operator as you were charged for something you could not use because of the dive op itself( and not any other circumstances).

If the other, well thats diving in a group, other SAC, other conservative dive computer, other profile or previous dives. It has nothing to do specifically for the kind of diving or safety with Nitrox.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Sure, as long as the guide is inclined abide by your reasonable request.

I've had the displeasure of being told "we will all ascend together", and like I said I try to avoid such operators either before I've set foot on their boat or at the very worst, it's going to be a one and done assuming there are other options going forward.

Never had an issue as I speak with management first and get approval so the inform the guide about how I will dive. Also I generally stay with a dive op for 10 - 12 diving days doing between 30 to 40 dives so dive ops like two things, a customer who spends a lot of money and a repeat customer who spends a lot of money.

Where possible I go diving with my regular dive buddies as I will in May to Maldives. There are times when they cannot dive with me so I get setup in a group or alone with a guide. Also dive ops liked to keep experienced divers together and give you a little more flexibility.

 

[boulderjohn]

When you are on a multi-level dive led by a DM in a place like Cozumel, the DM will lead the dive so that they are shallow enough for the air divers to finish the dive based on air supply rather than NDL. Any nitrox divers in a mixed group will simply have more NDL left when the dive ends. It might not even occur to them that the dive could have been conducted differently.

That used to happen to me in Cozumel back when I was one of the few nitrox divers in the group. Since then, wherever I go, including Cozumel, I have been in groups that are 100% on nitrox, and those dives are very different. The first time I realized that was on a dive to the Devil's Throat. I had done it before in mixed group, and I knew the profile well--you descend, go through the swim-through, and you head for the surface. When I was with a nitrox-only group, we had a memorable dive with a lingering ascent through a maze of swim-throughs.

 

[NothingClever]

Happened to me once in Cozumel...

It's reassuring to know you're on the job, ready to straighten out the errant charter operators out there.