Tomorrow we are finally getting around to getting our Nitrox Certification. We had planned on doing it while in Florida last year after my brother's wedding, but the plan to head south afterwards didn't come to fruition. So, being faced with some upcoming trips where the ability to use nitrox could extend our bottom times and/or increase our safety margins, we've decided to do the certification here in California so that we can do some nitrox dives when we vacation or even here in California.
My coursework is completed and, suffice it to say, I hate gas management. Having to read through PO2 levels and such is a real chore for me. Diving air is just as well for me, although I do like the idea of increased safety. As well, the other benefits of Nitrox diving are attractive. So off we go. Hopefully I won’t get all befuddled on the examination tomorrow!
My coursework is completed and, suffice it to say, I hate gas management. Having to read through PO2 levels and such is a real chore for me. Diving air is just as well for me, although I do like the idea of increased safety. As well, the other benefits of Nitrox diving are attractive. So off we go. Hopefully I won’t get all befuddled on the examination tomorrow!
UPDATE: Took the classwork and have passed the examination. Looking forward to doing some Nitrox diving in the near future on one of the vacations we've got planned. As for the course, I enjoyed learning about the various computation methods for nitrox dive planning. I really enjoy using dive tables and the Nitrox class just added a number of tables more. Appeals to my sense of anal-rententivity I suppose. I wish we could try Nitrox tomorrow on our dives that we are hoping to do - but we won't be at any depths sufficient to warrant the additional cost, get the benefits, etc. C'est la vie!
3 comments:
I don't know if I'll ever get to this. Let me know, once you've had some experience with it, if it's worth it to get certified, or if just getting advanced, dry suit, and maybe some other type of adventure certifications are good enough.
Congratulations. Now you'll be easier to spot underwater with that yellow/green tank band!
Is it worth it? The first time I drove all the way home to Sonoma from Monterey after a couple of tanks of EANx instead of air, and didn't yawn once the whole way, I was hooked. It is expensive and I don't always use it, but after repetitive dives I sure feel fresher.
Of course, it's really nice on vacation where you're doing multiple dives every day. More bottom time is nice too.
Thanks Jeff for the feedback. Ended up being that our dives this weekend probably would have warranted the use of Nitrox, due to the depth, etc. However, I don't think my air consumption is such that I will benefit from the increased bottom times - so it will be more for warmer water (I have better air consumption there), or for increased safety margins in Monterey.
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