Nitrox becomes more and more popular all around the globe. And lots of divers like to dive on enriched air. Oceans 5 is listen to their customers and decided that they will offer from the 10th of January Free Nitrox for all divers who are Enriched Air certified.
What is Nitrox?
In recreational diving terms, enriched air refers to any nitrogen/oxygen gas mixture with more than the 21 percent oxygen found in normal air.
Why should you dive on Nitrox?
Divers should know that the limited factor of our diving time is:
- The air consumption of the diver
- The amount of nitrogen the body absorbs during a dive
One of the easiest factors to extend our bottom time is to reduce the intake of Nitrogen, by increasing the percentage of Oxygen in the tank. This is what enriched air does.
Disadvantages
Very high concentrations of oxygen can also be harmful to the body what can result in oxygen toxicity. This is a medical condition attributed to exposure to oxygen at high pressure.
Extreme levels of oxygen can cause dizziness, nausea, convulsions, unconsciousness, breathing difficulties, eye damage, lung damage, and in extreme cases, even death.
Divers can avoid oxygen toxicity by carefully monitoring their oxygen limit when diving with Nitrox. They have to take into consideration the amount and length of exposure.
Special procedures
Diving on nitrox has a few special procedures. Divers should analyze their own tank. On the tank there should be a nitrox decal where the divers write down:
- The Divers Name
- The Date of analyzing the tank
- The Oxygen Mix in the tank
- The Maximum Operational Depth
If you are not Nitrox certified?
Divers who are not nitrox certified will have two options to get their PADI Enriched Air certification. Oceans 5 offers PADI Enriched Air Courses with and without dives.
The course without dives takes only half a day. It has a practical and theoretical session about how to use and dive with nitrox.
the other option the course with dives takes 1 full day. It is the same as the course without dives, the only difference is the divers will dive 2 times on a nitrox around the Gili Islands.
The Gili Islands
The Gili Islands are located at the North West side of Lombok. The dive sites around the Gili Islands – Gili Meno, Gili Air, Gili Trawangan – are perfect to dive on enriched air. Beautiful reefs surrounded by all the reef fish gives the diver the feeling of a movie. A movie a diver never wants to end. With nitrox the diver can enjoy this underwater movie longer.
