Nitrox when others are on air

[OctopusLover]

I'm Nitrox certified and never get to use it. I finally found a place that offers Nitrox and dives to an area where it makes sense (interesting bottom at max 36m). They even advertise the site as good for Nitrox on their site. I booked the dive, only to find out everyone else on the group will be on air. What good is a better NDL if I have to go up because my buddy is on air?

Am I supposed to ask for a private dive with the instructor / divemaster and pay for both our Nitrox? How does Nitrox diving work in practice?

 

[tursiops]

I'm Nitrox certified and never get to use it. I finally found a place that offers Nitrox and dives to an area where it makes sense (interesting bottom at max 36m). They even advertise the site as good for Nitrox on their site. I booked the dive, only to find out everyone else on the group will be on air. What good is a better NDL if I have to go up because my buddy is on air?

Am I supposed to ask for a private dice with the instructor / divemaster and pay for both our Nitrox? How does Nitrox diving work in practice?

I guess you have to talk everybody else into learning Nitrox.
The groups I dive in are almost always 100% Nitrox certified and dive it if possible. It is the occasional air diver that causes the "problem;" the solution is often to stay shallower than the others, enter last, exit first, etc.
At worst, you are on-gassing less nitrogen than your air buddies....and that's good.

 

[PEDiver]

If I have access to Nitrox, I always dive it. Does not matter if someone in the team is diving air. There are a lot of other factors outside of a longer NDL (which is good regardless since you are adding in a safety factor) to consider when diving Nitrox: less nitrogen loading, shorter surface intervals (or more efficient in your case), and a better post-dive feeling (not proven, but a lot of people seem to think so).

In short, never dive air if Nitrox is available.

 

[Rilelen]

What everyone else has said...diving nitrox (where appropriate) is almost always a good idea, and adds a margin of safety to your dive. I dive nitrox on mixed boats (about half air/half nitrox) at one resort that does guided dives - that means we all surface pretty much together anyways, and dives are planned keeping in mind NDL for the folks on air. Nitrox doesn't give me any more bottom time there, but I feel better about using it (esp when doing 4-5 dives/day over several days). Their divemasters dive nitrox on all their dives for the same reason. About the only time I don't dive nitrox these days is when there's a chance I may go deeper than the MOD.

For instance, I was on a club dive yesterday where most folks were diving nitrox (the bottom is ~100'). I brought air in the off chance my buddy would want to dip down a bit lower....when he showed up with air, too, we both laughed. (And did go a little deeper than the others).

If you want the extra NDL, find (or bring!) a buddy who is also nitrox-certified.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @OctopusLover

What kind of dive is this? Is this local or are you traveling for it? Is it a requisite guide led dive or are buddies and qualified solo divers allowed to go on their own? I see you don't have many dives, perhaps you aren't comfortable to go on your own with an instabuddy.

If nobody is diving nitrox, you are out of luck anyhow. I dive nitrox mainly for the longer NDL, would probably not spring for it otherwise.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I understand your frustration. Rest assured, there are many places in the world where diving nitrox is more common than diving air. You seem to have had the misfortune of finding a place that attracts some air divers and finding yourself booked to dive with them. If you dive more widely, you will not always run into this problem, as there will likely be plenty of nitrox divers to buddy with.

 

[OctopusLover]

I live in the UK, diving here isn't really a thing, so my diving for the foreseeable future is as part of a holiday. In that context, I'm showing up to a dive centre and joining their boat for 2-3 days while I'm the area and that's it. I don't know anyone I'll dive with.

I had assumed this is how most people dived most of the time?

In any case better surface intervals are also pointless if I'm stuck waiting for a group, and I'm only diving twice a day on their boat so increased safety over the day is also not a concern. I mainly got the Nitrox certification to be able to enjoy dives at 30 meters for longer, and now wondering if that's ever actually going to happen

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

My first reaction in reading this was to consider the SDI SOLO diver course. Then as long as the operation allows SOLO, any buddy issues are NA. But.....I'd also say that with less than 25 dives under your belt you may want to get some more experience.

Depending on the topography of the site, the other thing you might consider is agreeing with your buddy that you may be a bit deeper. For example if you are traversing a nice wall dive and you are within your MOD for your mix, then you may elect to stay 10ft deeper than your "air" buddy for the majority of the dive and NDL's would be closer to matching.

Either way....with the number of dives you have listed, I'm guessing that you are probably diving AL80's and gas consumption is more of a limiting factor than nitrogen loading.

 

[scubadada]

I live in the UK, diving here isn't really a thing, so my diving for the foreseeable future is as part of a holiday. In that context, I'm showing up to a dive centre and joining their boat for 2-3 days while I'm the area and that's it. I don't know anyone I'll dive with.

I had assumed this is how most people dived most of the time?

In any case better surface intervals are also pointless if I'm stuck waiting for a group, and I'm only diving twice a day on their boat so increased safety over the day is also not a concern. I mainly got the Nitrox certification to be able to enjoy dives at 30 meters for longer, and now wondering if that's ever actually going to happen

I would consider different operators at your diving destinations. Most all of the destinations I have visited in the last 20 years have had a majority of nitrox divers. All liveaboards have offered nitrox.

 

[OctopusLover]

Either way....with the number of dives you have listed, I'm guessing that you are probably diving AL80's and gas consumption is more of a limiting factor than nitrogen loading.

I'm diving whatever the place gives me, but I've had to go up due to NDL every time I've been down to 30 meters or deeper. I was using rented Aqualung/Suunto computers that may well have been too conservative though?

Also isn't AL80 actually small? I swear I've been given 12 and 15 litre tanks before