SSI Enriched Air Nitrox Course Online
What’s in the Nitrox course?
The Enriched Air Nitrox course is for every diver who wants to extend bottom times, shorten surface intervals, and have better control over dive planning. During the course you learn about basic gas theory, how to calculate your ideal gas for depth (and vice versa), and how to properly analyze and mark your tank before a dive. Once you sign up for the course, you will be given online learning to complete before taking a zoom call with your instructor, who will walk you through the hands-on steps. After, we will give you a recording of the call to use in the future for a quick refresher whenever you like.
How does Nitrox work?
1. normal air mixture 2. 32% oxygen, 68% nitrogen 3. 36% oxygen, 64% nitrogen
Nitrox is a gas blend we breathe in diving that contains more oxygen than the air around us right now. For recreational diving purposes, this means that a nitrox tank will contain somewhere between 22% and 40% oxygen. The remainder of the gas mixture being nitrogen – hence Nitrox. As you may remember from your open water course, a lot of the decompression obligation that builds up comes from the inert gas nitrogen. With each breath we take, it accumulates in our bodily tissues. So, when we reduce the amount of nitrogen, we can stay under for longer. There are obviously more factors and details, but we cover all of that in the online course.
Is Nitrox safe?
Yes, nitrox is completely safe as long as you understand how it works and how to properly label your tanks. In fact, proper nitrox actually lessens some of the common risks of diving, such as decompression sickness, and allows you to spend more time on the sites that you love. There are a few added concerns with elevated oxygen consumption, but these risks and solutions are covered in detail multiple times throughout the course.
NITROX TANK LABEL PHOTO
Is Nitrox for me?
Yes! Nitrox is for everyone. Whether you want to extend your bottom time on the dive sites you love, keep your surface intervals short and sweet, or want to reduce fatigue associated with multiple dive days. We recommend diving on nitrox blend of 32% for our advanced morning wreck and reef dive charters. We find our divers really benefit from a reduced build-up of nitrogen on the deeper wreck dive to extend their time underwater for the second dive.
How do I join the next Nitrox course?
We are running online courses every week on Sundays! To sign up, you can call our Island Divers shop, email us or press on the ‘schedule class’ button at the bottom of this page. We will assign the digital learning to your SSI account as soon as you sign up.
Participation in our online course plus your certification is $185. This includes the SSI EANx (up to 40%) digital learning.
For your certification, you need to complete the knowledge reviews and final exam. We then issue you with your digital Enriched Air Nitrox Certification Card! With this card, you are able to prove that you know the protocol for analyzing your nitrox blend and can safely plan a dive in accordance to your nitrox gas percentages.
Does the Nitrox Specialty count toward my FREE Master Diver Rating?
Why yes, yes it does! A Master Diver is one that has 50 dives logged, 4 specialty courses (like this one) and the Stress and Rescue Course. The Sea Turtle Ecology course counts as one of those specialties to earn your FREE Master Diver Rating. Obtaining the Master Diver rating enters you to win a trip for 2 on a liveaboard. These drawings are held in January for everyone that made Master Diver the previous year.