The adoption of enriched air by the recreational diver is one of the most fundamental changes to occur in the diving world today.  It is no longer exclusively the gas of professional divers, recreational divers are beginning to learn from the professionals and consequently get much more from their diving by using enriched air.  The Enriched Air Diver Specialty is one of PADI’s most popular courses, whether you use it to extend your time on a particular wreck, are into photography and want to spend longer practicing or if you are just on a relaxing holiday and fancy doing some gentle, relaxing diving, it will allow you to have more time underwater and shorter surface intervals, but the most important thing is that it limits your exposure to nitrogen & therefore decreases the chances of getting Decompression Sickness. 
WHAT YOU WILL DO
You will need to collect your course pack from the dive centre at least a week before the course starts, and make sure you have  completed the knowledge reviews at home before you come in for the theory lessons.
There are two options for obtaining the Enriched Air Diver Specialty.  The main course is purely theory based. Your instructor will go over your knowledge reviews with you to make sure you are happy with everything you have read.  You will then learn how to analyze the mixture in an enriched air nitrox cylinder, plan dives using the enriched air tables and complete a short exam.  You can  leave the course at that or choose to do two optional Enriched Air Dives to put the knowledge you have learned in the theory sessions into practice.  There is also an option of combining the Enriched Air course with another specialty course such as wreck diver, deep diver or night diver. 
HOW LONG IS THE COURSE?
The theory part of the course will be held in the classroom at Aquatic Element dive centre.  It will take 2 ½ hours and can be done on a weekday evening or on a Saturday morning or afternoon.
If you then go on to do the practical part you will need to do 2 dives. These will be done in one day either at a training dive site such as Stoney Cove or you can come one of our dive trips either in the UK or Abroad to complete these dives.  If you are combining the Enriched Air Course with another specialty course the dive site will be chosen to suit the specialty you are doing.  Specialty courses vary in the number of dives you have to complete for example if you choose to combine the enriched air course with the wreck diver course you will need to complete 4 dives.  These will be done over a period of 2 days.