Being SAA trained, it seemed a little odd to be doing a PADI course, after all, they are the opposition - aren't they? As part of the MAST (Malvern Archaeological Survey Team) I had been given the opportunity of being sponsored to do such a course. By a coincidence, we had planned a two week diving trip to Malta, so, given the choice of doing the course in a miserable cold quarry in the UK, or the warm clear waters of Malta, I had tough decision to make. After much thought, I opted for Malta - after all, we were going there anyway! It would be rude not to.

The course content

The course was run by Dive Deep Blue, the school Maldives had used in 2003 for their first annual trip and the chosen school for our 2004 trip. There are several levels of Nitrox, the basic course, the apprentice Tec-Deep and the advanced Tec-Deep. I had opted for the basic course for several reasons; firstly the other two are expensive (£500+), secondly I did not feel that I was experienced enough for an advanced course and thirdly, it would have taken about 9 days to complete including classroom sessions and I wanted a holiday, rather than be stuck in a classroom all afternoon. The basic course it was then. The school were quite flexible on timing and we agreed I would start it at the end of the first week to give me time to settle in to Mediterranian diving i.e. wet suits, warm, clear waters, no weight belts. By the Friday I was keen to get going, so we discussed the course in detail.

In Detail

The PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course, to give it its' full title, consisted of a practical session, two dives using Nitrox and up to four hours of theory, culminating in an exam. Given that we were on holiday and I was also studying for an Open University course, we agreed that one hour per day would be devoted to classroom work. The practical session required me to decide what the best gas mix was for the given dive, this was by discussion with the instructor as I had not yet done the theory, but understood well enough that an increase on Oxygen percentage necessitated a corresponding reduction in depth, but also resulted in a lower 'apparent' depth - good for safety as less Nitrogen is absorbed by the body. We decided the two dives would be on the Um El Faroud, and I would use a 32% mix, denoted as EANx32, which means that 32% of the gas was oxygen and the remaining 68% was Nitrogen - as opposed to 21/79 of normal air. This gave me a safe maximum depth of 34m. It was explained that the safe maximum depth occurs when the partial pressure of Oxygen reaches 1.4 and the contingency or absolute maximum when the partial pressure reaches 1.6. I was shown how to analyse the mix to ensure it was correct, and also how to mark the tags attached to the cylinders and fill out the schools log books. It is vital that the diver using the mix has analysed it. Nitrox, like normal air becomes toxic at depth. Where normal air is 66m, nitrox can be toxic at 25m for higher ppO2, so care is essential in both analysis and dive planning.

The Dives and the videos

Both dives went without a hitch and I was told that it is common for divers to feel much better after a nitrox dive than with normal air. Personally I felt no different, and in fact when we got back to the flat, I fell asleep at 6pm and didn't wake until 7am the next morning - coincidence?, three pints of lager afterwards?, who knows! The following day saw the start of the classroom session where I was given a video to watch. This lasted about 45 minutes and illustrated Nitrox diving, covering planning, preparation and diving. For me it moved very quickly and I found it hard to take notes without missing anything. It was only afterwards that I was told that I would be given a book that covered it all! The book and video were the sum total of the course literature, plus there were three tables issued. These were the RDP (Recreational Dive Planners) for 32% and 36% Nitrox - the most common two mixes, plus a EDT (Equivalent Depth Table) and Oxygen Exposure Table. The book I was told, would cover their use. They differ slightly from the more familiar Buhlmann tables, but the essential operation is the same - find a depth and time, allow for residual Nitrogen for the second and subsequent dives. In many ways the RDP is a simpler operation.

The following day, being Sunday was a day off for the school, so we decided that the next session would be Monday. Saturday evening and Sunday I devoured the book, did the examples and returned on the Monday confident that I understood it. Explaining this to the instructor we agreed that rather than have a classroom session, I would be given a set of knowledge reviews to complete. These ask questions about the content of the course and are designed to find any weak areas that the instructor could then explain further. They are designed to be completed without reference to the book and are the students honest answers. I only had one problem; I had answered a question but could not make it match any of the choice of answers - it seemed on examination, that the answers in the book to this particular question were wrong! Happy with this, I elected to take the exam. It comprises 25 questions, all multiple choice, but many requiring calculations of dive times, maximum depths etc. It took me about 30 minutes to complete including checking. It was marked straight away and I scored 24 out of 25. The incorrect question was explained to me and I accepted their answer, but on the way home, kept running it through my mind, I was sure I was right! That evening I checked with the book and was so confident that I was right, challenged the school the following morning. They rechecked and agreed with me!

All that was left to do was to complete the various forms, including a letter to PADI UK which would be sent off by me once back in the UK to receive my official Nitrox Diver card. In the meantime I was issued with a 90 day temporary card allowing me to purchase up to 40% Nitrox fills.

So, was it worth it?

Well, in a word, yes. I already had an understanding of Nitrox, but I learned a lot more and came away feeling confident that I could plan a Nitrox dive with ease. Are there any criticisms? Well, the fact that there are incorrect answers in the book and the exam is a worry. My initial score was high enough that it wasn't a problem, and I don't mind being wrong if my error can be explained! Such an organisation as PADI though, should be 100% certain that their answers are correct - I may just send them an email! As an SAA diver, we are given the impression that PADI courses are too short and too superficial and one could argue that I only had one hour of classroom work, but that was because that was all I needed, so rather than waste everyones' time, they gave me as much as I needed, which suited us all. The two dives are good from planning and depth monitoring/control point of view, but are just that - dives.

Would I do another PADI course? Yes I would, compared to the recent SAA O2 admin course, it was 100% better, more interesting and much more informative. I will add the certificate to my log book with pride.