Posted by Davej on December 17, 2001 at 08:24:16:
In Reply to: Re: Two words: Nitrox rocks! posted by randy54 on December 17, 2001 at 07:23:54:
I've been diving Nitrox for about 3 years now, mostly when I'm on liveaboards or overseas and based on my very unscientific data it does seem to give you more energy.
I've dove similar trips with and without Nitrox and have found that with Nitrox I can do 5 dives a day (sometimes 6) from dawn to dusk and still be coherent after the last dive. When I dive air I usually max at 4 dives a day, and sometimes have trouble getting 3 done. They all run about the same 100, 90, 70, 50 and a 40' night dive. They are all right up to NDLs for air (I do it for the safety, usually). I've also found that if I do two deco dives with long hang times on 80% O2 I usually feel very good afterwards.
Final note, I do stops every time, at least 5 minutes and often I'll spend the last 20 minutes shooting video between 20-15 feet. My personal rule, is any dive below 60 or longer than 40 minutes at any depth gets a free stop at 15'
One downside, besides the cost of course, I was on a 12 day drip earlier this year and noticed my throat was pretty raw near the end of the trip. Wether it was the nitrox (too much) or just too much diving I can't tell you. I've decided to mix a little air in just in case, kinda like 3 to 1.