a. What is Nitrox?

Picture yourself on a dive off the Ocean Hunter at the always stunning Blue Corner. You are hooked into the reef corner at 60 feet/18 metres as uncountable sharks loom around you, and two huge eagle rays hover effortlessly in the current against a backdrop of blackbar barracuda. All too soon, you have to ascend to a shallower depth to remain within the no-decompression diving limits. As you longingly look back down at the corner, you see two other divers still down there, and they started the dive at the same time as you! They have bright yellow and green Nitrox labels on their tanks. How does this work?

Nitrox, or Enriched Air, is a mixture of air with less nitrogen and more oxygen than the normal air we breathe from our scuba tanks. Normal air contains approximately 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen. NITROX is available in mixtures of 32% oxygen, 36% oxygen and 40% oxygen. This higher oxygen percentage and lower nitrogen percentage in the air means that there is less nitrogen to dissolved into the bloodstream of a Nitrox user at the same time and depth as someone breathing normal air. Therefore, Nitrox lets you stay down for longer. You also benefit by shorter surface intervals due to less outgasing required, and at the end of the day you’ll feel less fatigued from the reduced physiological effort of outgasing nitrogen. And perhaps the greatest advantage of NITROX is its enhancement of safe diving. NITROX reduces risks for decompression illness and will help you make the most of your unlimited diving aboard Ocean Hunter.

b. Nitrox Course Onboard
You can get certified in using NITROX right aboard Ocean Hunter! The course is divided into 4 hours of theory, 2 NITROX dives with the Instructor, and the final exam. If you plan to arrive in Palau a few days before boarding the Ocean Hunter, our dive shop Fish 'n Fins can certify you in NITROX.

c. Nitrox Dives Onboard
Ocean Hunter has two separate filling stations enabling both blue air tanks and yellow NITROX tanks to be filled at the same time. Our IANTD certified gas-blender crew will pump your tank to the required O2 content and then analyze it. Before the dive, you’ll analyze your own tank with a second analyzer and sign a sheet stating the O2% in your tank and your maximum depth. Then you’ll slip into the water with all the benefits of NITROX.