What agency has the most technical nitrox training?

[hroark2112]

Speaking as a CCR instructor who requires students to have a background in nitrox I am amazed at how many nitrox divers don't know how to calculate anything except to use plastisized tables for all the formulae.

Sadly, I've seen rebreather divers who do not have a fundamental understanding of PO2 calculations and how your PO2 figures into dive planning & decompression.

 

[Subcooled]

NAUI offers a perfectly good book on enriched air: NAUI Nitrox Diver Textbook: Natl. Assoc. of Underwater Instructors: 9780967990378: Amazon.com: Books

If you want to know more background then you probably want to know more about decompression too, and Deco for divers is the book you should spend the next month with. You will need that month, by the way. If you make the mistake to search for nitrox on Rubicon foundations archive, then, well, after six months you are either totally confused or your masters thesis on physiology is complete. Very demanding reads.

A professional instructor needs to earn a living, hence train many customers, hence be efficient. Nitrox isnt that complicated. If you want to learn "more" then you need to either study on your own or find a mentor/club that has all the time.

A solid foundation would be to understand this "surface = 1 ATA; every 33ft of water is one more ATA; every ATA is 0.XY (where XY is the oxygen percentage); keep the total product below 1.4".
Also do the depth <==> partial pressure conversion both ways in your mind, not on paper, in an instant. That's worth learning. You will use it A LOT.

 

[uncfnp]

Oh, I forgot. Go head and sign up for AOW too (if not already). Lots of good instructors in your area. Yet another necessary step on your way to technical.

 

[KenGordon]

OP, the courses being talked about above, such as TDI AN/DP, are serious hard courses with lots of practical skills as well as deco theory. I suggest you read Deco For Divers and then do any entry level nitrox course. After that plan and dive a lot of dives and get proficient in the water. Next learn to use a twinset. A twinset of 32% is good for plenty of diving. After some time diving that kind of config then something like AN/DP might be useful. Around here people would only bother with it once they had seen the wrong end of half an hour of back gas deco, but they'd have started diving with first level courses that included nitrox and second level that include deco.

Install a dive planner such as multideco or the free Suunto DM5. Plan some dive and see what the deco times are for different configurations. Also the limiting factor, gas supply, cold, deco. As an engineer you will soon get a feel for what factors matter. You may also find that doing a course and then carrying an ali80 of rich mix to save 5 minutes in the water is not worthwhile.

 

[seeker242]

Oh, I forgot. Go head and sign up for AOW too (if not already). Lots of good instructors in your area. Yet another necessary step on your way to technical.

I think that's what I going to do. My LDS, Dixie Divers, offers a package deal of PADI AOW + PADI Nitrox for $399 plus books. That's pretty good price from what I've seen around here. But before that I'll get a TDI or NAUI training manual, learn it on my own, and follow up with the PADI instructor if I have any questions. They should be able to answer any question I might have. Sounds like a plan!

what type of technical diving are you interested in? It may be worth a trip up to Cave Country for some of the instructors up there. I would recommend Add Helium long before I would recommend DGX for training. They are close enough to you, and if you want to know about the physiology and what not, they will get it to you. .

Thanks! Add helium bookmarked for future reference.

 

[tbone1004]

I would hold off on PADI AOW for now, all it is is a card that says you have AOW, it is highly unlikely you'll learn anything meaningful. Evaluate your long term diving goals, and work back from the end instead of forward from now.

 

[wedivebc]

You do not need to do an advanced nitrox course to get involved in the math and theory behind nitrox. The TDI basic nitrox course covers the following subject areas:

1. History of Enriched Air Nitrox (EAN)
2. Physiology
a. Oxygen
b. Nitrogen
3. Physics
a. Pressure review
b. Partial pressures
4. Equipment Considerations
a. Forty percent oxygen content and less
b. Above 40 percent oxygen content
5. Dive Tables
a. Equivalent air depth (EAD) introduction of concept only for demonstration
b. EAN tables
c. Switching mixes on repetitive dives
6. Dive Computers
a. Mix adjustable
b. Oxygen (O2) integrated
7. Advantages and Disadvantages of EAN
a. Use as air for physiological advantage with air tables or computers
b. Use to extend no-decompression bottom times or shorten surface intervals
c. Oxygen toxicity hazards and depth limits
d. Discussion of myths and facts regarding EAN mixtures
8. Procedures
a. Use and theory of oxygen analyzer
b. Gas analysis and logging
9. Common Mixing Procedures
a. Partial pressure blending
b. Continuous blending
c. Membrane separation system

You can see this is a pretty comprehensive class and I don't buy into the "it's the instructor" argumant because any instructor not teaching everything listed here is violating agency standards.

 

[seeker242]

I would hold off on PADI AOW for now, all it is is a card that says you have AOW, it is highly unlikely you'll learn anything meaningful. Evaluate your long term diving goals, and work back from the end instead of forward from now.

Ok, but I mostly want the card to be able to dive the spots here that are 60-100 ft. Some of the wrecks and most of the goliath grouper dives I've seen around here are below my current limit of 60 ft. The boats want to see that card, even if I haven't learned that much more from the class. My main focus right now is perfecting the basic skills I've already learned, and starting to build some knowledge that will allow me to go deeper and deeper in the future. I'll probably want to go past 130' one day, but that's far in the future.

 

[tbone1004]

understood. See if the boats will accept TDI Intro to Tech instead of AOW, that would be a much better investment.... Find an instructor to combine that with Nitrox.

 

[uncfnp]

Seeker. You have to learn to walk before you can run. I think your initial post got everyone focusing on tech and has lead to a lot of confusing info. It even makes my head spin.

PADI AOW and nitrox is just fine. It's a good starting point to continue your dive exploration. I know of no advanced class that will not accept AOW as a starting point. And it is just that, a starting point. Or more correctly, a continuation of what you began with OW.

I am not familiar with your LDS. Consider posting in the Florida forum for specific recommendation if you are interested. It's a much repeated mantra on SB but there is a lot of truth to it. It's the instructor that makes the course, not the c-card/agency. The next most important factor is the student themselves.