Nitrox course without dives - what am I missing?

[ScubaSteve]

.........This COULD be the placebo effect.........

I am of the belief that in the abscence of hard data proving it, that it is a placebo effect. BUT WHO CARES!!! I believe that even if it is the placebo effect and it is not doing you any harm, then who cares WHY??? If you feel "less tired", then that is great. You win in this instance so I say that is good.

I dove 32% in Bonaire last year for 24 dives and cannot really compare to a similar air series because the most air diving I have done in a week was 14 dives. BUT, I was still tired after 24 dives on 32% but loved every second (I can say the very same about the 14 air dives).

Bring on the PLACEBO!!!!

 

[Clammy]

I am of the belief that in the abscence of hard data proving it, that it is a placebo effect. BUT WHO CARES!!! I believe that even if it is the placebo effect and it is not doing you any harm, then who cares WHY??? If you feel "less tired", then that is great. You win in this instance so I say that is good.

I dove 32% in Bonaire last year for 24 dives and cannot really compare to a similar air series because the most air diving I have done in a week was 14 dives. BUT, I was still tired after 24 dives on 32% but loved every second (I can say the very same about the 14 air dives).

Bring on the PLACEBO!!!!

I totally agree! I FEEL less tired, therefore I'm not falling asleep and I can still go do things! If it's all in my head, who cares, I'm still not conked out immediately after a bunch of diving! Bring on the HAPPY GAS!!!

 

[String]

I have to stop for a 20 min power sleep driving home on air or nitrox. Dont think ive made it home for years without having to do that.

 

[bleeb]

More recent double-blind experiments suggest any real differences are small if they exist at all, and unlikely to be noticeable to the newcomer.

I would be interested in seeing the details of these studies.

Unfortunately, so would I. Most of what I've seen has been second hand reporting in magazines and the news rather than scientific papers, although I have dug through the Rubicon archives as well. Too bad I didn't actually note down references at the time. And my vague memory of the uncertainties in the studies was why I used the word "suggest" instead of anything more definitive.

 

[TMHeimer]

I think my PADI Nitrox course in '06 was one of the last ones (PADI) that required the 2 dives. They said the obvious reason was that as long as you know how to read the 02 % and know the various dangers, doing the actual dives just amounts to normal diving (plus watching your depth for toxicity of course). In fact, we did our dives without the instructor, as what would the instructor have done?--say: "OK, now do the dive and use the nitrox"

 

[J.R.]

Important first part... GrlEEEgrl... best wishs... got my DM not all that long ago myself... and tank schlepping ain't all that bad... ;-) Next stop... Asst. Instructor...

NITROX... don't seem much of a reason to to require "nitrox dives" to cert. When you learn to dive EAN21 in OW you learn tables... EANxx simply has different tables... as others have pointed out... breathing is breathing. (I got my NITROX through NAUI...)

Never heard of a NITROX Discover dive... gonna' have to check that one out... EAN32 under "indirect supervision" eh??? Interesting... ya' learn something interesting every day on SB...

 

[Hatul]

There's no need to do any dives to learn to use Nitrox, as there are no new psychomotor skills involved. I got my Nitrox card online for $150 or so.

Adam

 

[ScubaSteve]

there's no need to do any dives to learn to use nitrox, as there are no new psychomotor skills involved. I got my nitrox card online for $150 or so.

Adam

 

[M.HARDY]

When I checked this out a while ago i noticed some places offered 2 dives as part of the cert and others didn't offer any.

 

[matts1w]

While I do not disagree with the aspect of not doing dives to get the nitrox cert., there WAS value in actually taking students out to complete the class off a boat. Simulating/planning the dives in the shop is one thing, but planning and going through the real motions on a boat did have real value.

For instance, in many Florida locations such as the Keys one often has just a few minutes between dives to re-hydrate, chill, switch bottles, brag about the first dive, and plan the next dive while the skipper and crew set up on site two. In the excitement, swells, crowded dive boat, etc... it was always interesting to see how many buddy teams did not discuss their MOD and/or reset their computers for the second mix. Those who did received some positive reinforcement while those who didn't learned a great lesson about being detailed and slowing down before they began their second dive.

I also liked to use a different mix than my students and drop just a few feet below their 1.4 pp o2 threshold, make some noise with a rattle, then beckon then to come on down and see some mysterious but imaginary critter or whatever. Those who began the small descent got an earful, while those who signaled "no- must level off here" again got great praise.

Finally, it was another chance to take students diving, help with skills, correct some issues, etc.... which is always good.

In the long run students save no money. We used to charge $165 for the class which included two dives and the EANX fills. Now we charge $99. Same price w/o the dives.

So I have a hard time saying there is no real-world reason to include dives with the class.

Nonetheless, I understand why the changes were made.