Want to get more from your dives?
Enriched Air Nitrox – or EANx – contains more oxygen and less nitrogen than standard air. For divers, that means reduced nitrogen exposure and potentially longer no-decompression limits, giving you more time at depth on suitable dives.
And getting certified is easy.
The SSI Enriched Air Nitrox Specialty can be completed in just half a day, with no mandatory training dives required.
Learn the theory. Analyse your gas. Understand your limits. Get certified.
Or add two Nitrox dives and put everything you’ve learned straight into practice on Koh Tao.
Half-Day Course | 5,300 THB – Classroom only
Course + 2 Nitrox Dives | 6,800 THB – 1 day, classroom plus 2 dives
What Is Nitrox?
The air we breathe – and the standard air used in scuba cylinders – contains approximately 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen.
Enriched Air Nitrox contains a higher percentage of oxygen and therefore a lower percentage of nitrogen.
Why does that matter?
When we dive, our bodies absorb nitrogen. The deeper we go and the longer we stay there, the more nitrogen exposure we accumulate.
By reducing the amount of nitrogen in the gas we’re breathing, Nitrox can give us longer no-decompression limits at a given depth.
For many divers, that means more useful time underwater before their NDL becomes the limiting factor.
It’s particularly valuable for deeper recreational dives, repetitive diving and days where you’re planning multiple dives.
Two Ways to Get Nitrox Certified
EANx Specialty
Half Day | Classroom Only
5,300 THB
Short on time?
You don’t need to make any training dives to become Nitrox certified.
The SSI Enriched Air Nitrox Specialty is primarily knowledge based, so the complete certification can be completed in just half a day.
You’ll learn how Nitrox affects your dive planning, understand oxygen exposure and maximum operating depths, analyse your own Nitrox cylinder and learn how to correctly plan and prepare for an enriched air dive.
Complete the training and you’ll be certified to use Nitrox mixtures containing up to 40% oxygen, within the limits of your existing certification and the gas you’re using.
EANx Specialty + 2 Dives
Half-Day Training + 2 Nitrox Dives
6,800 THB
Learn it.
Then use it.
Complete the same SSI Enriched Air Nitrox training before putting your new knowledge into practice on two Nitrox dives around Koh Tao.
You’ll analyse your cylinders, confirm the oxygen percentage, understand the maximum operating depth, correctly set your dive computer and then head out to dive.
For just 1,500 THB more than the classroom-only option, you’ll get two dives and the opportunity to use your new certification straight away.
If you’ve got the time, this is the option we’d recommend.
More Time at Depth
This is the big attraction of Nitrox.
Imagine you’re diving a deeper site and you’ve got plenty of gas remaining – but your no-decompression limit is getting low.
Your NDL, rather than your air supply, can become the reason you need to move shallower.
On an appropriate Nitrox mix, the reduced nitrogen content can give you more no-decompression time at that same depth.
That can mean more time exploring the site instead of watching your NDL count down.
The exact benefit depends on your depth, gas mix, dive profile, previous dives and dive computer, so Nitrox doesn’t automatically make every dive longer.
But when no-decompression time is the limiting factor, it can make a significant difference.
More useful time at depth. That’s why divers love Nitrox.
What Will You Learn?
Nitrox is straightforward to use, but understanding why and how we use it safely is important.
You’ll learn how increasing the oxygen percentage reduces the amount of nitrogen you’re breathing and how that can affect your no-decompression limits.
You’ll also learn about the other side of the equation: oxygen exposure.
A higher oxygen percentage means we need to consider the partial pressure of oxygen and the Maximum Operating Depth (MOD) of the gas we’re using.
You’ll learn how to determine those limits, plan dives using Nitrox and correctly configure your dive computer for your chosen gas.
The aim isn’t simply to get another certification.
It’s to understand exactly what’s in your tank and how that changes your dive.
Analyse Your Own Gas
When you dive Nitrox, you need to know what’s actually in your cylinder.
That’s why gas analysis is an important part of your training.
You’ll learn how to use an oxygen analyser to check the oxygen percentage of your Nitrox mix, confirm its Maximum Operating Depth and correctly identify the cylinder before diving.
Once you’re certified, this becomes a normal part of preparing for a Nitrox dive.
Don’t assume the mix.
Analyse it. Know it. Dive it.
More Time Doesn’t Mean More Gas
There’s an important distinction here.
Nitrox can give you more no-decompression time.
It doesn’t give you more gas.
If your tank normally lasts 50 minutes, filling it with Nitrox doesn’t suddenly make it last 70.
How quickly you use your breathing gas is influenced by factors including depth, breathing rate, fitness, experience, conditions, equipment and how efficiently you’re diving.
So if your gas supply is what normally ends your dive, Nitrox won’t magically make your tank last longer.
But if your NDL is the limiting factor, Nitrox can give you considerably more flexibility.
Want to improve your efficiency and gas consumption too? Take a look at our SSI Perfect Buoyancy Specialty.
Nitrox Helps You Stay at Depth for Longer
Nitrox doesn’t increase your certification depth limit.
What it can do is give you more no-decompression time at the depths you’re already certified to dive to.
Because enriched air contains less nitrogen than standard air, your body is exposed to less nitrogen during the dive. On suitable dive profiles, that means your computer may give you significantly more time before reaching your no-decompression limit.
So instead of having to move shallower because your NDL is running low, Nitrox can allow you to spend longer enjoying the deeper part of the dive.
This becomes particularly useful on deeper recreational dives and repetitive dive days where nitrogen exposure starts to play a bigger role in your dive planning.
There is one important limit.
Every Nitrox mix has a Maximum Operating Depth, determined by the percentage of oxygen in the gas and the oxygen exposure limit being used.
So the advantage of Nitrox isn’t about going deeper.
It’s about getting more time at depth.
Why Dive Nitrox on Koh Tao?
Koh Tao is somewhere you can dive a lot.
Two dives in the morning. Another two in the afternoon. Maybe a night dive. Then wake up tomorrow and do it all again.
When you’re doing multiple dives across several days, understanding how to manage your nitrogen exposure becomes increasingly useful.
Nitrox can also be particularly valuable at some of Koh Tao’s deeper dive sites, where your NDL can become an important part of determining your dive profile.
Complete your certification early in your trip and you’ll have the option to use Nitrox throughout the rest of your diving.
Who Is the Course For?
Nitrox is useful for divers at almost every experience level.
You don’t need Advanced Open Water before learning to use it, and there’s no reason to wait until you’ve logged hundreds of dives.
If you’ve recently completed Open Water and know diving is something you’re going to continue with, Nitrox is a useful specialty to add early.
If you’re already an experienced diver, it’s one of those certifications you’re likely to use regularly – particularly on deeper dives, repetitive dive days and dive trips where you want to maximise your available underwater time.
And if you’re planning to Go Pro, understanding Nitrox becomes even more relevant.
That’s why the Enriched Air Nitrox Specialty is included as part of our Go Pro All In programs at the Funky Turtle Dive Academy.
Do I Need to Dive?
No.
That’s one of the great things about the SSI Enriched Air Nitrox Specialty.
There are no mandatory training dives, which means you can complete the full certification in half a day for 5,300 THB.
If you’re short on time, get certified and use Nitrox whenever you next dive.
But you’re on Koh Tao.
There’s a fairly good chance you came here to go diving.
For 6,800 THB, you can complete the course and add two Nitrox dives.
That’s only 1,500 THB more for two dives and the opportunity to put everything you’ve just learned into practice.
We’d take the dives.
Build Your SSI Recognition Levels
Enriched Air Nitrox is a full SSI Specialty certification and can contribute towards your SSI recognition levels as you build your training and experience.
As you complete more specialties and log more dives, you can progress through the SSI recognition pathway, including Specialty Diver, Advanced Specialty Diver and Master Diver.
So EANx isn’t only a certification you’ll use regularly.
It can also be another step towards becoming a more experienced and better-trained diver.
