PADI Nitrox Course/ Enriched Air in Malapascua
Malapascua is the perfect place to do your PADI Nitrox Course as we have several dive sites that are ideal for using it.
Nitrox, also known as Enriched Air, enables you to dive at depth for much longer; you can as much as double your bottom time on some of our sites.
It contains a greater percentage of oxygen and less nitrogen than air. This means that your body absorbs less nitrogen during a dive and you can dramatically increase your maximum allowable bottom time. This is particularly effective at deeper depths; from 16m – 30m.
Recommended dive sites
- Monad Shoal used to be home to our thresher sharks, but they have now moved to the shallower Kimud Shoal and been replaced by tiger sharks on Monad! Due its depth of 22-25m, average dive time on air is 37 minutes. However, on nitrox, your bottom time is extended to around 70 minutes!!! That’s like two dives for the price of one!!! So that gives you twice as long to look for the elusive tiger sharks. 🦈
- Gato Island has a pygmy seahorse fan at 25 meters, and nitrox gives you time to adjust your eyes to see them properly and check off this bucket list creature 😍
- The Dona Marilyn and Tapilon wrecks are also perfect for Nitrox
- The Kalanggaman wall dives are also very well suited for nitrox.
Many of our divers do every dive on nitrox, taking advantage of discount package prices.
Another effect of Nitrox is that for the same dive time as an air dive, it reduces the harmful effects of nitrogen in the body. So your risk of getting DCS (decompression sickness/the bends) is reduced.
Dive on eanx with thresher sharks
As the thresher sharks have moved to Kimud Shoal, it’s no longer strongly advised to use nitrox on the shark dive. But it’s great to use on the Monad tiger shark dives. Make the most of your bottom time with them by diving on EANx 32, giving you up to DOUBLE the time compared to regular air dives!
Find out more about Malapascua’s dive sites HERE, and on our Malapascua thresher sharks HERE
safer diving, almost everywhere!
Nitrox is now very common all around the world, so you are sure to use it often.
And remember, less nitrogen in your breathing mix means less chance of getting decompression sickness.
The Nitrox course has a small amount of reading and will not take up much of your vacation, except of course for the extra time you get to spend diving with the thresher sharks!
Or complete the reading in advance with PADI’s Enriched Air Nitrox e-learning if you pre-book; so all that’s left to do when you arrive is dive!
Also consider combining the nitrox course with any other PADI course to save time and money. The Advanced Open Water and many of PADI’s Specialty Courses are well suited to this. We offer special packages when you do the Nitrox course in combination with other courses.
And the Nitrox course has just been made simpler with computer use only. No more tables! Free computer rental included with all course dives.
Prerequisites
If you are a PADI Junior Open Water diver, at least 12 years of age, you can enrol on the PADI Enriched Air Diver course. You need to be in a normal good health, please check the PADI Dive Medical Form.
Already Nitrox Certified?
There are several PADI courses that are great to do on nitrox, for instance, Wreck, Deep, Sidemount, and our unique Thresher Shark Diver course. Or why not think about trying one of our technical diving courses? Depending on your aims and goals you do not need a lot of experience, and you can start technical diving with as few as 10 logged dives!
Our PADI diving instructors have been though a rigorous training program and each has many years of teaching experience with hundreds of students.
We take great pride in teaching students of any level. Diving lessons are almost always one-on-one, and there will usually be an assistant as well. So you will get individual attention and diving instruction will go at your own pace.
You can be assured that with us, you will have only the best: top quality service, unrivalled professionalism and a safe and most of all fun diving vacation from start to finish!