NITROX CERTIFICATION AT A GLANCE

• Course Length: + 1/2 day to Your Planned Dives
• Course Cost: + $150 USD to Your Planned Dives
• Number of Dives: 2 Dives on Nitrox
• Certification Fees Included
• Equipment: Your Normal Dive Gear

PREREQUISITES

• Age: 18 years old
• Certification: Open Water

WHAT CAN I DO WITH THIS CERTIFICATION?

The TDI Nitrox Course allows divers to enjoy longer bottom times within the no-decompression limits by planning and executing independent dives using gas blends containing 22% to 40% oxygen. This course is a prerequisite for all other technical diving courses, including advanced nitrox.

Friends don’t let friends dive air. In modern diving, nitrox is available practically everywhere. The benefits are so great and the cost of nitrox fills is so low that there really is no reason not to dive nitrox whenever it’s available. Nitrox extends the no decompression limits of recreational dives and allows for longer repetitive dives with shorter surface intervals. Many divers claim they feel less tired after a day of diving on nitrox than they do after a day of diving on air. This is the shortest and easiest course we offer, and it can be combined with the guided cavern dives you already have planned: get extended bottom times at The Pit or Angelita, or make three cavern dives in a day without worrying about decompression limits.

WHERE WILL I DIVE DURING THE COURSE?

The nitrox course is conducted as an add-on to your already planned dives. We cover nitrox dive theory at Under the Jungle’s classroom the afternoon or evening before the dives. After the written exam, we take off the next day to the jungle to dive in the cenotes. During the course, we like to go to deeper dive sites, such as The Pit, where divers can enjoy the benefits of nitrox by spending more time in the deeper parts of the dive site, including the swirling hydrogen sulfide cloud. After the first dive, we can head to a local restaurant for lunch, or plunge straight into the next dive and enjoy a relaxed lunch afterwards (shorter surface intervals are just one of the many benefits of nitrox!).

WHAT WILL I LEARN IN THE NITROX COURSE?

The TDI Nitrox Course includes equipment and dive theory, and practical experience diving on nitrox.

⇒ NITROX COURSE THEORY

• The history of nitrox
• The physics of oxygen and its potential hazards
• The physiology of breathing oxygen
• A review of the dive tables including use of nitrox
• A review of dive computers and how to use them when diving with nitrox
• The advantages and limitations of nitrox as a breathing gas
• Equipment considerations for nitrox use
• Common blending procedures and how nitrox is made

 

⇒ PRACTICAL SKILLS AND DIVES

The skills used when diving with nitrox do not differ from those used on air dives, so the practical skills required for the course focus on diving planning and equipment set up, including:

• How to analyze the gas blend in a tank
• How to clearly label a nitrox tank
• Planning dives using nitrox as the breathing gas
• Two dives on nitrox using a dive site combination that will benefit from its use