Nitrox Diving

Nitrox Diving

Nitrox diving is a type of scuba diving that allows divers to remain underwater for longer periods of time. The difference from regular scuba diving lies in the combination of gases contained within the diver’s tank. Usually, a scuba diving tank is filled with oxygen (21%) and nitrogen (78%) – almost identical to the composition of the air we breathe on earth. Nitrox divers dive with an reduced percentage of nitrogen in their dive cylinder, allowing them increased bottom time and reduced surface intervals.

The theory of nitrox diving is based on the fact that when you scuba dive, nitrogen enters your blood. The longer you stay underwater, the more nitrogen enters. Excessive nitrogen in the blood can cause many health problems, the bends being the most well-known and feared. To combat these problems, divers must dive carefully, ascend slowly, decompress during their ascent and be careful not to spend too much time underwater and to take the indicated breaks between dives.
If a diver uses a different balance of oxygen and nitrogen, and decreases the amount of nitrogen in his tank, he can stay down longer because less nitrogen is entering his bloodstream. This kind of air is known as hyperoxic air, and contains more than 21% oxygen.

There is a common misconception surrounding nitrox diving. Some people believe that hyperoxic air will allow them to dive deeper, which is not true. It is important to be trained in nitrox diving before changing the gas composition in your tank. There are many factors that must be considered, especially the way different gases work underwater. Oxygen, for example, which is rarely harmful on the earth’s surface, can result in oxygen toxicity or poisoning at deeper depths and while risks of nitrogen narcosis are reduced with nitrox diving, risks of oxygen narcosis are increased.