Seasickness story

I was always proud of the fact that I never felt seasick or had to take seasick pills, and put this down to the fact that I used to do a lot of kayak surfing !

Well that is until today, I was fine up until I decided to put on my drysuit on in the lower bow cabin whilst the boat was waiting for divers, the sea was quite rough and the boat was bobbing all over the place, and very quickly I started to feel sick, when I came up for some fresh air I was hit with strong diesel fumes followed by puking smells and the sounds off divers urging over the sides. I thought they was very brave to continue kitting up in between leaning over the side to be sick again followed by their dive!

In they went ! hmm I'm feeling worse, and I looked at my buddy who looked very green, then I started to regurgitate my vegetable soup and sandwiches over the side
after this I couldn't wait to get into the water and away from this bloody rocking boat, I now understood why the first divers continued to dive after being sick.

Unbelievably I had a very nice dive and my deepest yet !

I think I'm going to buy one of those anti-sick sea bracelets, as although funny now was not very nice at the time ;-0

I think this is where you went wrong: "I was fine up until I decided to put on my drysuit on in the lower bow cabin whilst the boat was waiting for divers, the sea was quite rough and the boat was bobbing all over the place, and very quickly I started to feel sick." You were in the cabin, and your eyes saw walls and objects moving in violation of what you balance thought should happen.

In rough waters, stay out of the cabin, open air, maybe midship, upwind of the fumes. You did getting into the water, although this not always good for some. Keep in mind that you can puke through a reg. You don't want to spit out to puke, then suck water in as a reflex. After you stop, then carefully remove the reg to rinse it and your mouth. I'm sure the fish loved you! :rfish:

good luck, don

That is rough. I used to get motion sick all the time when I was younger. I couldn't go 5 miles down the road in a car without getting sick; and boats, forget about it, they were out of the question. I outgrew it though.

Dandydon is right, never go into the cabin when the sea is rough. I try to stay out of there all together if I can. I outgrew most of the motion sickness but if I stay in the cabin too long, I start to get a little queezy. At times like that I'd rather be pulled behind the boat in one of those little life preserver rings. Anyone want to go shark diving??

Sorry you got sick, but


....HA! Finally, someone who says they never get sick, gets sick!
Okay, it's rotten of me to get some sort of smug satisfation from that. But seriously, I hope it never happens to you again. I know how awful it is.
On my Blackbeard's trip two weeks ago, I barfed my guts out for the 7.5 hour crossing. I would have barfed on deck or below. To some of us, it doesn't matter where we are, it's only a matter of delaying the inevitable. I actually had someone grab me and tell me that I can't go below. That was where my bunk was. I was gonna go. I am reasonably certain I growled at him and told him to unhand me. I am such a B-word.
On the upside, I have actually gotten used to puking, and plan for it. If there is nothing I can do about it, I may as well embrace it.

But there is a combination of vessel and sea state that will get to almost anyone.
Most people don't even want to think of the conditions when I got sick.

Both were on RV Hero, a 125' north sea trawler, built to do research in Antarctica. She had a wicked rolling pitch the did the number on 90% of people even in mild conditions.

In the Drake Passage (between Cape Horn and Antarctica) the seas are huge and erratic. Ouch

Funny thing, on my ride from Antarctica back to Chile to fly home I was on the icebreaker Polar Sea. On the icebreaker the motion was different and I was most comfortable in my bunk with my eyes shut. Then again my back injury and pain meds might have had something to do with that.

Keeping that in mind...I don't think I would have survived with my luch unshared with the denizens of the deep.

Rough seas (no problem), Below decks, can't see the horizon (alright, for some reason I'm burping more than I should, but I'll be alright), Deisel fumes (yep, that tasted like bacon and eggs...steady boy) and the final straw...the lovely bouquet of someone elses partially digested vittles...REVERSE GEARS!!!
Nah, I'm not sick, I just wanted to make sure that the eggs were fully cooked.:spew::babble:

I think that would make all but the most seaworthy amongst us lay our breakfast table out for public review.

Jeff

Sorry to hear about seasickness troubles.

So far I've been lucky and tend to be one of those lash me to the bow with a bottle of rum types.

But I have a lot of friends who suffer from it to various degrees.

Definately the only time I have come close though is by spending too much time below deck on small boats. Fresh air always straightens me out though. Knock on wood.

I've only been seasick once, but woah.... I will say this, guzzling water and taking LOTS of deep breaths kept me from "feeding the fish". I'd have to say, that feeling of seasickness for me was worse than the flu.

My first (and hopefully only) time was this fall...

I had though I was imune too... I grew up in puerto Rico and spent LOTs of time on boats but then hardly any the last 10 years or so.

It may also have been contributed to by the not-quite-fully-ripe bannana with breakfast but that's probably just an excuse.

I'm sure it didn't help that the boat had engine trouble so we were sitting, bobbing in the waves for a bit while it got fixed.

I can say that, of all those who yuked that trip, I was the last to cave in and run for the downwind rail. I think only 3 people didn't that day. 1 was the captain, 1 was the mate and the third was an instructor (but I think he was just a tiny bit green too).

I did have two good dives that day though.

For me it was over quick. I was feeling a bit off and then it got slowly worse. I actualy felt better when I went into the head than when I was on deck. After I finaly yuked, I felt 100% fine the rest of the trip. That's why I think the banana may have been part of it.

Motion sickness is something I have been dealing with......well......forever. Funny thing is it doesn't effect me if I am the operator of whatever it is that makes me sick.

Through the years I have had 4 motor homes and have been a passenger in them for approx. 15 minutes total time. I just can't ride, makes me sick, as long as I drive I'm fine.

My boat, same thing, waverunners, same thing and on a rough lake I can jump and spin with the best of them for hours on end. But make me a passenger and I'm done for.

With diving I have a routine I follow that has worked so far but I have yet to be on a dive boat in heavy seas so time will tell.

Do you think they will let me operate the dive boat if I ask real nice?

Scott