Nitrox?

[Eric802]

I've appeared to have opened a can of worms...LOL

I really appreciate all the feedback I've gotten. It's very interesting.

What I've decided to do is...

A. pick up a cheap dive computer
B. Continue to dive my OW dives on cruises, which are typically fairly short (35-45 mins) and not too deep (<60')
C. Look into getting nitrox if/when i decide to get more into diving and/or join a dive club if we decide to spend the winters in Florida next year.

I think you’re on the right track.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

You blew off your CO2 before your freedives and blunted the stimulus to breathe. That is how shallow water blackouts occur, lack of oxygen.

Deep breathing is different than hyper ventilating.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I've appeared to have opened a can of worms...LOL

I really appreciate all the feedback I've gotten. It's very interesting.

What I've decided to do is...

A. pick up a cheap dive computer
B. Continue to dive my OW dives on cruises, which are typically fairly short (35-45 mins) and not too deep (<60')
C. Look into getting nitrox if/when i decide to get more into diving and/or join a dive club if we decide to spend the winters in Florida next year.

That’s about typical for scubaboard, lol!

You have decided well, good plan

 

[Bigbella]

Something that I had noticed while working boats over the years, while in school, was that, for a sport that required some strenuous activity and, at the very least, some upper body strength, scuba also seems to attract some of the least physically fit people of most any popular pursuit that I have ever seen; and it was not uncommon to see divers sporting thirty-plus pound weight-belts; a fair share of highly-custom suits; an all-too common incapability of standing from a bench seat while fitted with gear; and we had clear instructions to keep a close eye on each of them.

Almost to a one, those who claimed the greatest benefit from nitrox use, usually fell into that large and in charge category; and perhaps there was something to said for that, in terms of a potential benefit?

I have personally used nitrox since it first became widely available, back in the early 1990s, and had noticed little to no discernible difference between EAN use and that of air -- and typically only use it, nowadays, while spending the lion's share of time below 20-30 meters, but find it an utter waste on shallow repetitive dives.

More often than not, I still mostly dive with air, in Northern California, where it is quite easy to find yourself well below nitrox depths . . .

 

[formernuke]

Almost to a one, those who claimed the greatest benefit from nitrox use, usually fell into that large and in charge category; and perhaps there is something to said for that, in terms of some potential benbenefitim

I'm 6 foot 2 inches full clothed weight 180 pounds and I notice benefits of using nitrox.

So am I in your walking heart attack can't get up from the seat stereotype?

 

[Bigbella]

I'm 6 foot 2 inches full clothed weight 180 pounds and I notice benefits of using nitrox.

So am I in your walking heart attack can't get up from the seat stereotype?

"Almost to a one,“ seems to me, a qualifier and about as clear ”as an azure sky of deepest summer"-- and it's great that you seem to found some measurable benefit that I have never experienced.

A friend, who now swears by nitrox seems largely incapable or even unwilling to correlate his recent stoppage of a thirty-plus year habit of chain-smoking unfiltered Canadian cigarettes, to his new-found comfort and longevity while diving EAN.

I just don't think that it's really necessary to drop US 110.00 on a nitrox 32 air-card, for what many still view as a highly profitable though largely placebo effect . . .

 

[Angelo Farina]

I am saying that I have found dives, as a whole, where I experienced narcosis to be more fatiguing than similar dives where I didn't experience it.

The correlation is evident, but the cause-effect relationship is reversed: when you fatigue during your dive you produce a lot of CO2, which causes narcosis...

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I'm 6' 3", 210 pounds, and have also been using nitrox since the 90s. I've never noticed any difference. I used to dive deep air with double steel 120s and two 40 cu ft deco bottles. Moving all of that through water is a lot of work. I always made incredibly slow ascents, especially the last fifteen feet, and was never too tired to pull my tanks back on board as well as my buddies' tanks and the anchor/chain. One of my buddies used to call me freakishly strong. For the past ten years, most of my diving has been using nitrox as deep as 40 meters. I understand how the placebo effect works, therefore I don't notice any reduction in fatigue. I dive steel 130s. After a day of diving, I carry my tanks as well as Merry's from the boat to the car, plus clean the boat. Diving is a lot of work. If it caused noticeable fatigue, I'd probably switch to lighter tanks.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm 6' 3", 210 pounds, and have also been using nitrox since the 90s. I've never noticed any difference. I used to dive deep air with double steel 120s and two 40 cu ft deco bottles. Moving all of that through water is a lot of work. I always made incredibly slow ascents, especially the last fifteen feet, and was never too tired to pull my tanks back on board as well as my buddies' tanks and the anchor/chain. One of my buddies used to call me freakishly strong. For the past ten years, most of my diving has been using nitrox as deep as 40 meters. I understand how the placebo effect works, therefore I don't notice any reduction in fatigue. I dive steel 130s. After a day of diving, I carry my tanks as well as Merry's from the boat to the car, plus clean the boat. Diving is a lot of work. If it caused noticeable fatigue, I'd probably switch to lighter tanks.

“One of my buddies used to call me freakishly strong”.
Ross?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Yes. He would try to pull up the anchor from a deep dive and tire out after about fifty feet or so. I would then pull the rest up quickly. (Showing off)