The Benefits of Becoming an Enriched Air Diver
If you haven’t got your Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) certification yet, you may be wondering if it’s worth it and what the real benefits are and why you should become Nitrox certified. In this post we look at the 5 main advantages of nitrox and when you might use it.
What is Nitrox?
Nitrox refers to any gas mixture composed of nitrogen and oxygen where the percentage of nitrogen is reduced and oxygen increased. Common mixes are 32% oxygen and 36% oxygen.
The 5 Main Benefits
1. Extended Bottom Time
This is the number one benefit of diving on nitrox. The lower percentage of nitrogen in the breathing gas mixture allows you to safely extend your dive times without increasing the need for decompression stops. The less nitrogen there is in your breathing gas, the slower the nitrogen absorption will be at a given depth. For example, according to no-decompression dive tables, a diver using nitrox 36 may stay up to 50 minutes at 26 metres, while a diver using air may only stay a maximum of 27 minutes at this depth.
2. Reduced Risk of The Decompression Sickness
The reduced percentage of nitrogen is also advantageous in reducing nitrogen uptake in the body’s tissues and so reducing the risk of decompression sickness, which is also known as the bends.
3. Shorter Surface Intervals
A diver using nitrox absorbs less nitrogen for a given depth and dive time than a diver using air. This means that diving on nitrox you have less nitrogen to off-gas during a surface interval, which can shorten the required surface interval drastically.
4. Longer Repetitive Dive Times
Nitrox becomes especially beneficial for divers who are doing more than one dive per a day. A diver using nitrox will have a longer allowable bottom time on a repetitive dive than a diver using air because the diver using nitrox has absorbed less nitrogen. This is very useful on our 3 dive Phuket diving day trips or on one of our liveaboard trips. Normally the last dive of the day can get quite short, but diving on nitrox you not only potentially extend the earlier nitrox dives, but also the later dives.
5. Reduced Fatigue
Many divers claim to feel less tired after diving on nitrox than after diving on air, especially after doing multiple dives in a day. By reducing a diver’s nitrogen absorption, nitrox may also reduce a diver’s post-dive fatigue. This has yet to be substantiated with scientific evidence but if you feel better, that can only be a good thing.
When Does Nitrox Not Help?
Nitrox is not beneficial for all dives as it increases the risk of oxygen toxicity so you are limited in depth, depending on the percentage of oxygen in your tank. So you would not want to use in on very deep dives. See here for more info. Also, if you consume your air very quickly within air no-decompression limits then nitrox probably won’t help extend your bottom time much.
To Conclude
In general, diving on nitrox gives you longer dives and reduced nitrogen intake, which means getting more out of your dives while being further away from decompression sickness. It is great to have on your liveaboard trip and many liveaboards around the world including our Similans liveaboard MV Pawara offer FREE nitrox to certified divers.
So if you’re thinking of doing the Nitrox course then our advice is, do it – it is well worth it. You learn alot, increase your diving knowledge and it will no doubt come in very handy on many of your dives.
For additional information or to book your Nitrox (Enriched Air Diver) course with us send us an email or enquire here and one of our team will respond to you 🙂