Nitrox course without dives - what am I missing?

[Sas]

I am booked into do a TDI Nitrox course next month but I was just wondering... all the courses I looked into include two dives as part of the course. This course does not (and as a result was $220 versus $400+ for all the other courses I looked into) and will be two nights of theory. A few people have told me I really should be doing a course with dives because it just isn't right to be Nitrox qualified without having done dives using Nitrox under supervison.

I've done a fair bit of reading about using Nitrox, understand all the maths, and had the feeling that doing dives with Nitrox would make no difference to my understanding of how to dive with Nitrox. Once I have calculated my MOD, NDL etc, I just need to make sure I follow my dive plan (correct me if I am missing something though ). I always do detailed dive plans with air, and always stick to them... so as I am doing a course that covers all of those calculations, other issues related to using Nitrox and how to analyse my gas, what would doing dives add to my understanding? I am just wondering as a few people have said it is 'wrong' to do a course without dives. And as most of the other shops do dives, I was wondering whether I am missing out on something?

The shop said I can do dives with them after the course with Nitrox if I want so the option is there. (But I imagine at an extra cost).

 

[spectrum]

As long as you have a good lab where you check gas and hopefully configure your computer there's not much else that's really hands on.

When diving you need to observe the depth limit and if you dive a whole lot the O2 saturation. Other than that it's just a more liberal NDL.

Pete

 

[Thalassamania]

There's no real reason to dive as part of a Nitrox course.

 

[scuba_frog]

I just took the Nitrox course. My understanding is that if you do 2 dives as part of the class, that cert goes towards you Master Diver. Nitrox w/o the dives does not.

There are 2 Nitrox specialties:

Discover Enriched Air Nitrox PADI The Way The World Learns To Dive

And

Enriched Air Diver PADI Enriched Air Diver

If you read carefully, the first one does not mention Master Diver while the 2nd one does.

 

[Jimmer]

Take a few breaths...now take a few more and pretend it's Nitrox. Ok, the hands on portion of the Nitrox course is complete, just make sure you understand the theory and planning part of the class, and you'll be ready to dive nitrox.

 

[Sas]

Thanks for the replies (and the links). I believe I will give the dives a miss as I don't care about getting a Master Diver, and I understand about observing a depth limit and O2 saturation. And doing two theory classes will add a lot to my knowledge about it anyway

Not sure why some people I know have been telling me I MUST do the dives (well I can understand why stores tell me that, but not sure why some independent advice has been given that way...). But anyway, if I for some strange reason feel the need to do a Nitrox dive under supervision I can organise it at a later date

 

[k ellis]

Ok the discover nitrox course is not a certification so it would not count for a master diver certification. Its only to introduce you to the possibilities.

one of my specialties I used for the master diver was Nitrox. I have been hooked ever since with it. Like I saw mentioned in an earlier post most of what they teach in the nitrox class is not really as much to do with being in the water using nitrox as it is the hazards and so forth. Just a little common sense and preferably a good computer and there really is little to worry about.

Now for the benefit. When I do alot of diving on air I am always tired after a dive. A real bummer on vacation. With Nitrox when you finish diving for the day you are ready to run the streets still. I now dive nitrox and rarely dive with out it

 

[Teamcasa]

No dives are needed or required. You need a good understanding of the dangers, benefits and physics of added O2.

 

[bleeb]

My understanding from when I did the course (without dives) is that back in the 'old days' when Nitrox was more controversial and recreational cert courses were just appearing, there was a common belief that you felt different. More recent double-blind experiments suggest any real differences are small if they exist at all, and unlikely to be noticeable to the newcomer. Because of this, certifying agencies have backed off on the requirement to do dives and the resulting costs, although as you've seen, you can still also get a cert with the dives added on, if you really wanted to for some reason.

 

[GrlEEEgrl]

I just took the Nitrox course. My understanding is that if you do 2 dives as part of the class, that cert goes towards you Master Diver. Nitrox w/o the dives does not.

There are 2 Nitrox specialties:

Discover Enriched Air Nitrox PADI The Way The World Learns To Dive

And

Enriched Air Diver PADI Enriched Air Diver

If you read carefully, the first one does not mention Master Diver while the 2nd one does.

On the PADI site it cleary states the course DOES count toward Master SCUBA Diver rating. Not sure when they changed it, but they did. There are no dives to be certified for Nitrox. I did it without dives based on what the maerials stated, and my instructor contacted PADI to make sure he was reading it right. I am not sure what the TDI requirements are, but like someone else said - there is really nothing special about it as long as you follow the rules.