Do I need nitrox?
If you’re certified and you dive more than once in a while, we think it’s worth having. Here’s what it does, what it doesn’t, and how it works at our shop.
Who gets something out of it
We think most certified divers get something out of nitrox. It’s air with more oxygen and less nitrogen, so your body takes up less nitrogen on the same dive. That part isn’t just our opinion, and DAN explains it here.
It isn’t for every dive, though. More oxygen means a shallower maximum depth, about 110 feet on 32% and less on richer mixes, so deeper than that, air is the right gas. You also need the certification, and you have to be 12 or older.
A tank of nitrox doesn’t last longer
This is the one most people get wrong. They think nitrox gives them a longer dive, and it can, but only if you have the air for it. 60 minutes of air is 60 minutes of nitrox, with the same tank and the same breathing.
What nitrox gives you is longer no-decompression limits, and that only matters if your breathing and your tank would let you stay longer than your limits on air. If you usually come up because you’re low on air, nitrox won’t change when you come up.
Either way, you’re taking up less nitrogen. You can use that as extra bottom time, or plan the dive with air limits and keep the difference as a margin, but you can’t have both on the same dive.
Does nitrox make you less tired?
A lot of divers tell us they feel less tired after a day on nitrox, but the studies so far haven’t found a difference (DAN wrote about it here), so we don’t promise that. The less-nitrogen part is the one with the science behind it.
How it works at our shop
The course. Do the PADI eLearning first, then come in for the hands-on session, about 2 hours at the shop in Bayamón. You’ll analyze a tank yourself, work out its maximum depth and set your computer for the mix, and we process your certification the same day.
Fills. We usually have 32% ready to go, and we can usually blend a lower mix the same day. A richer mix we can’t blend on the spot, so give us a few days’ notice. We blend midweek, since most people dive on the weekend, so ask early in the week.
Rental tanks. Let us know the day before, although same day is sometimes possible.
Your own tanks. The visual inspection and hydro need to be in date, and the tank needs a proper nitrox label. Because we blend continuously, a recreational tank doesn’t need oxygen cleaning for mixes up to 40%. We look over every cylinder before we fill it, and if a tank doesn’t pass, or we’re not comfortable with it, we won’t fill it. That’s for your safety and ours. And every nitrox tank gets analyzed by you before you dive it, the way the course teaches.
Want to try it on your next dive?