Advanced Nitrox/Deco Procedures course

The first question we get is, Is this one course or two? Technically, it is two separate courses — although almost no one ever takes or teaches it that way.

• The only reason you would ever take the Advanced Nitrox course, by itself, would be if you were planning to dive a closed-circuit rebreather (CCR) — but had no plans to do any decompression diving. In this case, all you would need is training in managing exposure to high partial pressures of oxygen.

• The only reason you would ever take the Decompression Procedures course, by itself, would be if you were diving in an area so remote, helium (and, thus, Trimix) was either unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Thus, you would be stuck doing dives and deco on air or Nitrox.

Most of us treat this as just a single course — one designed to take divers with no formal training in deco and teach them how to make decompression dives to depths of 45 m/150 ft. You would take this program, by itself, if you were preparing to make deep-ocean wreck dives, but had no interest in going in caves.

In so far as we have no deep wrecks in inland north Florida — and virtually no deep open-water sites — our cave students invariably take this course in combination with our Full Cave Diver program. Doing so saves them considerable time and money. For students who are not enrolled in cave training, we teach this as a standalone course.

Prerequisites

• Be at least 18 years old
• Be certified to the Advanced Open Water Diver level or equivalent
• Possess Nitrox Diver certification
• Have completed either the Intro-to-Tech or Sidemount Diver course, or can document equivalent experience

Time frames

• The Advanced Nitrox/Deco Procedures course generally takes three days and approximately six dives.

• With sufficient notice, we can usually accommodate requests for specific course dates.

Required equipment

• Mask and flat-bladed scuba fins with adjustable or spring heel straps
• Adequate thermal protection for prolonged exposure to 21° C/72° F water
• Sidemount or backmounted doubles harness
• BC air cell with adequate lift for the cylinders used
• Either backmounted doubles or two sidemount cylinders
• Two separate regulator first and second stages
• At least one mission-capable dive computer
• Slate or wet notes
• Two Z-knives or comparable cutting tools
• One primary light
• Two backup lights
• Two safety reels/spools with a total of at least 50 m/150 ft of line
• O2 deco bottle and regulator

Be aware than any equipment you use must meet very specific requirements. Learn more…

Items such as cylinders and primary lights, which my be difficult to travel with, are available for rental. Be sure to alert us if you will need any of these.