Should I do my Nitrox Course?

[Dr Stevil]

Cheers Ian , that's a very kind offer, yes I would certainly be interested in seeing the PADI nitrox manual, but it sounds like a lot of work for you though unless the manual is relatively brief.

My reasons for doing my first course (the BSAC one) as a combined basic/adv was that it wasn't going to cost very much extra (about £25-30, excl gas, IIRC) plus my attitude to life generally is "in for a penny, in for a pound".  I didn't view the two courses from a perspective of how deep I tend to dive, more a case of get the knowledge now so it's there when I want to use the more advanced aspects of it, which I intend to start doing more of this year (in fact I've promised myself to simply get out and dive more this year, bollocks to working weekends all the time like last year!)

Why did I do both BSAC & TDI courses ? Well, the first one was arranged while I was still diving with my old BSAC club and it was run by Graeme Bruce so it seemed a waste not to do both parts of it at that time under such illustious instructorship.

Later I stopped diving with that branch and started hanging around in 'cyberspace' with reprobates like Messrs. Tierney and Williamson, the TDI course came up and I thought it'd be a good time to hook up my my new "virtual dive buddies", plus I like the idea of getting as much varied training as possible (never having done any TDI stuff before), and again the course was beeing run by an instructor whose excellent reputation precedes them (Andy Dalesdiver), also the TDI Adv qualifies you to dive with up to 100% O2 whilst one of the criticisms frequently leveled against the BSAC course is that it limits you to 50% O2 mixes (you have to do the BSAC ERD in order to use 80% O2) so all in all it was too much of a good opportunity to pass up. Incidentally it was a great weekends diving with a great bunch of people which in itself was worth the course fees &  travelling etc.
Chee-az
Steve

[Steve S]

Hi John,
my tuppenorth'I did the IANTD basic and found that I had 1.55555% less IQ than the required standard, I just managed to scrape through, I then did the BSAC advanced to allow deco on 50% and wish I had gone straight for that.

I think most agencies are the same basic nitrox 40% no deco, advanced - deco with various percentages BSAC as Steve W said 50% not sure of the limits of others.

Apart from the max operating depth etc the only problem I have found is paying for fills

Safe diving,
Steve.

[Phil Ennis]

Hello Yorkie Gone Under,
Not wishing to start an in depth one but, to quote you...

1st post
one teeny-weeny point.  Nitrox does NOT lower your suceptibility to DCS / AGE in any noticeable fashion.  The built in safety margins of diving air tables / computers using nitrox as a  back gas give you a more conservative profile (which i would strongly advise on a liveaboard anyway).  We have had numerous cases of divers being bent for all kinds of reasons, in water as shallow as 10 metres.

2nd Post
Not trying to sound smart, but Nitrox does not reduce the incidence or causation of DCS/AGE, dont rely on it to do so.

My Reply.
If you dive nitrox on air tables or air computer then you DO significantly reduce the risk of decompression sickness. Remember we are absorbing less nitrogen which is the important factor. If we do this we are diving much more conservatively !
Nitrox using EAD's are no more conservative, fair point to raise mate. Just thought I should put my oar in, not wanting to be argumentative, honest !!