Nitrox - warning for beginner divers

[-hh]

Seems like nitrox certification is offered everywhere but to get tanks filled with nitrox is difficult. Only a handful stores do nitrox. One here charged $18 which I think is a robbery. Almost no competitors around. Compare the price to $5 air fills. Thus, nitrox certification is useless.

That's the entire OP's comment ... included above as a reminder for how much (or little) was said.

Whilst the OP's comments might have been a little sweeping, he makes a point. Lack of availability of nitrox in many places can be a source of frustration.

And similarly, there can be an element of consumer-based disappointment when they finish OW and start to discover how much Nitrox may (or may not) be worthwhile for them. I'm mostly referring to how it typically takes quite a bit of experience diving to get one's air consumption down low enough to get close to the NDL's on an A80...afterall, if you're not even close to the table's limits, then you're not really getting much of an advantage out of Nitrox.

I am used to having no access to nitrox at home, and frankly, most places I travel to in the Caribbean. I was flabbergasted when the dive op in Grand Cayman (where diving is like the national sport) told me they don't stock it as standard, and would need to special order it, before commenting that people rarely even ask him for it anymore.

The Utopian vision of "divers no longer diving air" is still a long way away.

No Nitrox on Grand? Yes, that is flabbergasting, particularly since the Brac & Little have had it for years ... and IIRC it was one of the Dive Pros from the Sister Islands that went over to Grand back in the 1990s to set up 'SafeAir' as one of the Cayman's first Nitrox supply stations.


-hh

 

[boulderjohn]

I was flabbergasted when the dive op in Grand Cayman (where diving is like the national sport) told me they don't stock it as standard, and would need to special order it, before commenting that people rarely even ask him for it anymore.

When I went to Grand Cayman (it has been a few years), the dive shop that I blindly went to on the grounds of my resort said the same thing. I then went on a dive with them and realized that they were a pretty basic diving op catering to the lowest common denominator, with everyone following a DM on a ridiculously simple dive. (The shop was part of the Red Sail conglomerate.) I mentioned how unhappy I was to one of the other divers, who gave me the name of another shop located about 5 minutes away. I spent the rest of the week diving with them, and I had a great time. About half of all the patrons used nitrox on every dive, and it was not all that expensive.

It pays to shop around.

 

[ianr33]

I was flabbergasted when the dive op in Grand Cayman (where diving is like the national sport) told me they don't stock it as standard, and would need to special order it, .

Which op?

 

[irishsquid]

I must be lucky here in our land locked hills. LDS and a couple dive sites (Quarries) have air fills @ $5.00 and Nitrox @ $8.00- $12.00

 

[Rhone Man]

Which op?

Ambassador divers.

 

[DevonDiver]

Now when I want to go dive I realized I cannot do it cheaply as air. I knew there would be a premium but I had no idea it would be so expensive and so hard to locate...

Take two empty water bottles at home... and challenge yourself to fill one with air... the other with oxygen-only.

Ding! ... and the lights come on.

 

[eelnoraa]

Take two empty water bottles at home... and challenge yourself to fill one with air... the other with oxygen-only.

Actually, this is very easy, all you need is a car battery. Ellectrolysis. You will get one botton of O2 and one botton of H2. It will take sometime and only in 1 atm pressure

 

[DevonDiver]

Actually, this is very easy, all you need is a car battery. Ellectrolysis. You will get one botton of O2 and one botton of H2. It will take sometime and only in 1 atm pressure

Easy compared to filling the other bottle with air?

 

[Firebird2XC]

Firebird, do more research. DFW is far from being a diving spot. Almost every inland dive site I have been to offer nitrox. I can get nitrox at Tenkiller in OK (depths to about 150), Beaver lake in AR (depths to 200+), Tablerock lake in MO (200+). There are plenty of other inland dive places around here that offer nitrox also. I'm sure there are a lot of good dive sites in TX that have it available too.

Why do you assume everywhere is the same as your local mud holes?


Firebird, this isn't meant as an insult, but why you feel the need to offer advice on a subject you admit to being very new at? I have flown a Cessna 172, does that qualify me to begin commenting on all airports and airframes around?

... just passing on the same advice given to me by my instructor- the guy with 40 years diving/30 years instructing and one of his shop pros.

... but please, by all means continue standing on my nuts and talking to me like I'm stupid. LOVE THAT! Will you be my best friend???

 

[calicant]

We noticed that after diving 4 or 5 times a day on Nitrox, we were less tired than 2 or 3 dives on air. Not sure if this is just how it affects us but we think our Nitrox class was a great catalyst for more and better diving on our vacations.

I heard someone once say that "air is for tires" but Costco fills ours with nitrogen!