The Best Specialty Certification to Have After Getting Certified
Why Oceans 5 Gili Air Believes the Nitrox Specialty Is the Most Valuable Choice
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| Nitrox Specialy Gili Islands | Oceans 5 Gili Air |
After earning your scuba diving certification, a whole new world opens up. You are no longer limited to shallow introductory dives or closely supervised experiences. Instead, you gain the freedom to explore reefs, wrecks, and marine life on your own terms—within the limits of your training.
At this point, many divers ask the same question: What is the best specialty certification to do next? There are many options available—deep diving, wreck diving, navigation, buoyancy, photography—but at Oceans 5 Gili Air, our answer is clear and consistent: the Nitrox specialty is the most valuable specialty certification you can have.
Not because it is trendy or easy—but because it fundamentally improves how you dive, how your body feels after diving, and how flexible your future diving will be.
Why Specialty Certifications Matter
Specialty certifications exist to expand your skills, knowledge, and confidence as a diver. They allow you to dive more safely, more comfortably, and often more responsibly. Some specialties focus on environments (wrecks, night, drift), others on techniques (buoyancy, navigation), and some on equipment or gas management.
The best specialty is not necessarily the most exciting one on paper. The best specialty is the one that benefits you on almost every single dive you do, anywhere in the world. That is exactly where the Nitrox specialty stands out.
Nitrox: The Most Popular Specialty in the World
Enriched Air Nitrox—commonly called Nitrox—is the most popular specialty certification worldwide. This is not a coincidence. From tropical holiday destinations to liveaboards, from local dive centers to professional-level diving, Nitrox has become a standard part of modern scuba diving.
Most experienced divers, dive guides, and instructors choose to dive Nitrox whenever it is available. At Oceans 5 Gili Air, our dive professionals dive on Nitrox almost all the time. Not because they have to—but because they understand its advantages.
What Is Nitrox?
Standard air contains approximately 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen. Nitrox is simply air with a higher percentage of oxygen and less nitrogen, usually between 22% and 40% oxygen.
By reducing the amount of nitrogen in the breathing gas, Nitrox changes how nitrogen is absorbed by your body during a dive. This is the key to understanding its benefits—and also its limitations.
Longer Bottom Time: The Biggest Advantage
One of the most well-known benefits of Nitrox is longer no-decompression limits when diving at the same depth compared to air.
Because you absorb less nitrogen per minute, your body reaches nitrogen limits more slowly. This means that at certain depths, Nitrox allows you to stay longer before reaching your no-decompression limit.
This is particularly useful on:
Repetitive dives
Liveaboard trips
Multi-day dive holidays
Dive trips with fixed dive profiles
It gives you more flexibility, more margin, and more comfort—especially when diving several times a day.
Does Nitrox Give You Longer Dives?
This is one of the biggest misunderstandings about Nitrox.
Nitrox does not automatically give you longer dives.
Your actual dive time is usually limited by air consumption, not by no-decompression limits. If you run out of gas, the dive is over—no matter how much no-decompression time you have left.
Nitrox does not change your air consumption. You still breathe the same volume of gas. So if you are a diver with high air consumption, Nitrox will not magically extend your dive time.
What Nitrox does give you is more safety margin and more flexibility, especially once your air consumption improves with experience.
Nitrox Is Not Made for Deeper Diving
Another common myth is that Nitrox is designed for deep dives. This is incorrect.
In fact, Nitrox has shallower depth limits than air.
Because Nitrox contains more oxygen, the partial pressure of oxygen increases faster with depth. Oxygen can become toxic when its partial pressure gets too high. That is why dive organizations work with a maximum partial pressure of oxygen of 1.4 ATA for recreational diving.
This leads to the concept of Maximum Operating Depth (MOD)—the deepest depth you can safely dive with a specific Nitrox mix.
For example:
Air (21% oxygen) has a very deep MOD, well beyond recreational limits
Nitrox 32 has a shallower MOD
Nitrox 36 has an even shallower MOD
So Nitrox is not for deeper dives—it is for smarter gas management within recreational depths.
Safety Through Knowledge and Planning
The Nitrox specialty is not about pushing limits. It is about understanding limits.
During the Nitrox course, you learn:
How oxygen exposure works
How to calculate and respect MODs
How to analyze Nitrox tanks
How to set your dive computer correctly
How to plan dives safely using Nitrox
This knowledge makes you a more aware and responsible diver, even when diving on air later on.
Less Nitrogen, Less Fatigue
One of the most appreciated benefits of Nitrox—especially by experienced divers—is reduced post-dive fatigue.
Because you absorb less nitrogen, many divers report feeling:
Less tired after diving
More energetic between dives
Better at the end of multi-dive days
This is particularly noticeable when doing two, three, or four dives a day. It is no surprise that dive professionals who dive almost daily strongly prefer Nitrox whenever possible.
While fatigue is subjective and varies per person, the overwhelming feedback from experienced divers supports this benefit.
Ideal for Repetitive Diving
Nitrox truly shines during repetitive diving.
On dive holidays, liveaboards, or training weeks, divers often do multiple dives per day over several days. Nitrox reduces nitrogen loading from dive to dive, providing:
More conservative profiles
Larger safety margins
More comfort during repetitive diving
This is one of the main reasons Nitrox is standard on many liveaboards worldwide.
A Dry Course: Easy and Efficient
Another reason Nitrox is such a great specialty is how accessible it is.
The Nitrox specialty is a dry course. That means:
No mandatory training dives
No extra water sessions required
You can complete the theory online before arrival. When you arrive at the dive center, you only need to:
Review key concepts with an instructor
Complete a short knowledge assessment
Practice analyzing Nitrox tanks
Learn how to set your dive computer
After that, you are certified as a Nitrox diver.
This makes it one of the most efficient specialty certifications you can do—high value, low time investment.
A Certification That Travels With You
Once certified, your Nitrox certification is recognized worldwide. You can use it:
On dive holidays
On liveaboards
During advanced training
In professional-level diving
Many dive centers assume Nitrox certification as standard for advanced or repetitive diving programs. Having it early makes your future diving easier and more flexible.
The Professional Perspective
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, our instructors and dive guides dive on Nitrox whenever possible. Not because it is mandatory—but because it makes sense.
When you dive frequently, you start valuing:
Reduced nitrogen load
Better recovery between dives
Conservative profiles
Long-term health and comfort
Nitrox becomes less of a “specialty” and more of a default choice.
The Best First Specialty After Certification
There are many specialties worth doing, and over time you may collect several. But if you are asking which specialty gives you the most benefit for the widest range of dives, Nitrox stands above the rest.
It improves safety, comfort, and flexibility. It fits almost every type of diving. It requires no extra dives. And it prepares you for the way modern recreational diving is actually done.
Final Thoughts
Becoming a certified diver is only the beginning. The choices you make after certification shape how confident, comfortable, and capable you become underwater.
In the opinion of Oceans 5 Gili Air, the Nitrox specialty is not just another card in your wallet—it is a foundation for better diving. Whether you plan to dive a few times a year or dream of becoming a dive professional, Nitrox is a smart, practical, and future-proof step.
If there is one specialty certification that truly earns its reputation as the best, Nitrox is it.
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