PADI ENRICHED AIR/NITROX Certification Class. COST: $275.00
Instructor: CHRIS PARKER
Develop your skills and extend your range of diving experiences! Learn to use Nitrox to increase your bottom time and improve your safety factor. Only one classroom session. No Dives Required.
The cost of this NITROX / ENRICHED AIR course is $275.00 and includes the book, tables, and certification card for Enriched air Diver.
What is nitrox?
In recreational diving terms, enriched air nitrox (EAN) refers to any nitrogen/oxygen gas mixture with an oxygen concentration higher than the 21 percent found in normal air–32 percent oxygen is the most common–and tanks filled with EAN are often clearly marked with a nitrox tank band and have the mix percentage written somewhere near the tank valve. It is this higher percentage of oxygen, and the proportionately lower percentage of nitrogen, that allows divers to lengthen no-decompression limits, shorten surface intervals and get an added safety buffer for decompression sickness in certain diving circumstances.
How does nitrox work?
As we’ve all learned from certification, when you dive, the water pressure causes nitrogen from the air you’re breathing to dissolve in your bloodstream. The higher the pressure, the more nitrogen will dissolve. After a certain concentration of nitrogen builds up, you must come back to the surface slowly in order to avoid either mandatory decompression stops or a case of decompression sickness (DCS). For example, based on the U.S. Navy dive tables, a diver on air at 100 feet reaches his or her no-decompression limit and must come up after 25 minutes. At 60 feet, the diver’s maximum time would be one hour. Nitrox changes the numbers. When you replace some of the nitrogen with extra oxygen, there’s less nitrogen available, which means it won’t dissolve as quickly, allowing a longer no-decompression limit. This concept is known as the equivalent air depth (EAD). For example, divers at 105 feet with 36 percent nitrox will dissolve nitrogen into their blood and tissues at the same rate as when breathing air at 80 feet. Therefore, the diver’s ordinary no-decompression limit of 20 minutes extends to 40 minutes — that’s double the bottom time
Class Schedule: (classes are at Giant Stride Dive Shop)