Should I Use Nitrox Diving Socorro?

[Oz Chris]

One occasion I went 2-tank boat dives in Fujairah, UAE. The first dive was in Inch2, 70-80’ deep, so I used EAN32. The 2nd Dive was in Hole in the Wall, 25’ deep. It’s a waste of money to do such a shallow dive with EAN32. We used air on that 2nd dive. That’s when I tricked my dive computers to EAN21.

Another occasion was the Pearl of Papua liveaboard in Cendrawasih Bay, Papua, Indonesia, had limited supply of EAN32 (might be having problem with their membrane system) so I was asked to do it on every other dives. That was a nightmare to remember switching back & forth.

We did similar in the Philippines (in Malapascua & Coron) - chose air or EAN32 based on the dive profile. There's no point paying for Nitrox when you're doing a reef dive at less than 15 metres.

We also have Sunntos (my backup and my partners primary) and yeah, you just need to leave them in Nitrox mode and adjust the O2 percentage to match your gas, even when it's EAN21.

 

[rongoodman]

The only time I've seen a custom blend on a liveaboard was the light blend the Belize Aggressor provided for the Blue Hole Dive. Everything else has been 32%(more or less).

 

[tridacna]

Scubaboard experts. Sigh.

 

[AdivingBel]

On liveaboards since you'll be doing 4/5 dives a day your bottom times will be limited on air compared to nitrox especially on your later, repetitive dives. Also your tank gets refilled between dives as opposed to switching tanks on day boats. If you are changing gases, the crew has to empty your tank before refilling otherwise you'll get some funky mixes. This is an added, time consuming task during an already task loaded time as refilling everybody's tank is often a time limiting factor during SIs. It can be done, but why take the busy crew "out of their shoebox" and add complexity to save a few bucks that will limit your bottom time which is part of the reason you pay big bucks to be there. IMHO either dive air and live with the reduced BT and DC nursing, or dive nitrox and find something else to worry about (like how many satellites you can count in the night sky ).

On day boats diving a tank of nitrox and a tank of air can make perfect sense. I've done it many times in the Keys doing wreck and reef trips where the second dive is a 30 ft. reef bimble. That said, IMHO, Coz is made for nitrox. I couldn't begin to get the bottom times on the profiles I dive in Coz on air. I would be fine on the first dive (though shorter BT) but my computer would be screaming halfway through the second dive. I could probably get by with just a tank of 32 on the first dive, but many of the second dives though shallower are still 50/60 ft. "square-ish" profiles which fit a tank of 36 (which I've never had any problem getting in Coz) quite nicely. This configuration gives me nice, long, lazy, "dive your tank" dives without having to "nurse" my DC. All this assumes your dives are NDL limited, not gas limited. All IMHO, YMMV, dive and let dive...

 

[Damselfish]

I've never done a live aboard. Can you not do air for your first dive and then EAN36% for your subsequent and shallower dive? I'm getting my Nitrox certification in November in Coz. I plan on diving air on every first dive, and then EANx on my second, shallower dives. I am hoping to get 36%, but we will see.

On a liveaboard you typically have one tank you use for the whole trip, it stays on your BC and gets filled there. Switching back and forth would be a pain in several ways and actually more prone to error . And if the Nitrox is a flat rate for the trip, as is common on liveaboard, there is no financial incentive.

For your typical resort based tropical diving as said you'll almost always see 32 and it's rarely worth the bother to try and get something else. Sometimes people will do only some Nitrox tanks to save money but which one - there can be good arguments for first dive, second dive, whatever. Most of the time I find the strongest argument is to just stick with Nitrox .

 

[davehicks]

I've been there 3 times in the past, it's a great experience. Socorro is 250 miles and 24 hours minimum evacuation to a chamber. You will do 3-4 dives a day, many will be deep for as long as you can stay within NDL. Honestly, I am surprised that they even give you the option of diving air. Nitrox should be considered mandatory for maintaining safety in such a remote location. Don't be cheap with your safety.

 

[The Chairman]

Definitely do NitrOx while diving the Socorros.

 

[borisphotosafari]

Been to Socorro 7 times, On SolmarV. You dive Nitrox 32%, no choice. At Roca Partida, 28% for safety. Watch your Suunto, after 3-4 days of diving ,my roommate was going into deco 8-9 minutes before my old UWATEC. He was not happy.