Galapagos Liveaboard - Seasick?

[MOWI]

Hi, everyone, may I ask a favor of those of you who have done a liveaboard in Galapagos -- especially anyone who may be sometimes affected by seasickness?

How rough did you find the seas, and how well did the boat -- and you -- take it?

I have the advantage of having been to Galapagos before -- however, it was a non-diving, National Geographic tour on a fairly posh 80-passenger small cruise ship. We have the opportunity to go again next summer on a 14-person, 100' live-aboard.

This sounded like a great plan until two days ago, when I was on a whale shark trip outside Isla Mujeres speeding along in a smallish fishing-style boat in only 3' to 4' seas. I got way sick. (That aside, the whale sharks were awesome! We saw a pod of about 200 animals and constantly had individuals coming toward us for a swim.)

Anyway, I'm now forced to notice that I may have begun to develop an issue with 100' and smaller fishing-style boats in certain levels of roughness in open ocean. (As opposed to in sheltered waters.)

Sometimes we did have some rough waves in Galapagos, which we noticed when moving from Zodiac to ship.

I would be grateful for any input that others have as to the seas and the stomach while doing live-aboard in Galapagos. Whether the boat speeds along in a manner that involves rough bouncing, that kind of thing. What worked for you if anything. Many thanks in advance.

 

[alibi 2]

My husband get very sea sick..he has tried it all and nothing prevents it...He had good luck with the Scapalomine patch but it is a 3 day dose and makes you very drowsey..

There is a new prescription med now called Scopace. It is the active ingrediant in the patch. He loves it and has found he only needs Half a pill to prevent sea sickness.

 

[HBO MD]

If you go with the scopolamine patch, you usually become tolerant of the side effects, dry mouth etc,within a day or so. Also, you need to apply it about a day prior to departing land.
Good luck.

 

[kennedy]

We were on the PH boat in Dec 09 - I was sick every night - the waters were very rough and especially crossing to wolf/darwin. I tried scopace pill, I tried the patch, I tried ginger, I tried pressure bracelets - nothing worked for me. The diving is so worth it - but I sure missed a lot of dinners. The patch never made me drowsy but I know that it does make some of my friends drowsy for the first few days. good luck!!!


I don't think it's the speed of the boat that causes the bouncing - the waters are just rough at times -

 

[MOWI]

Thanks, Kennedy! This is kinda what I was afraid of... and given limited experience, I'm sadly unconvinced the meds do anything positive for me (if anything at all), and -- again limited experience -- the great results I have chewing crystallized ginger on land seem to reach a point of limited help at sea.

It's few months before I have to decide, and this is probably not the time to do it (resting up from a trip) but Galapagos by Dive Boat might not be the smartest trip for me at this time. Thanks for the input.

 

[ApexLongimanus]

i am prone to sea sickness as well. i have done the galapagos trip including wolf and darwin. I have also done a few other trips.

i basically took some motion sickness stuff for the first two days. from then on, everything was out my system and i did not have any problems. the biggest concern for you should be the passage to wolf and darwin (if you go) which can be rough. but this should happen somewhere in the middle of your trip and not the beginning.

 

[tstormdiver]

I can sometimes be prone to motion sickness until I get used to the motion of the boat; usually about 24- 48hrs. I will be doing a Galapagos live aboard, going to Wolf & Darwin, in about 4 weeks. These islands will be towards the beginning of the trip to the middle. I am bringing the patch(es) & some OTC motion sickness medication to see what helps best. I'll let you know what works & what doesn't.

 

[Mossman]

Thanks, Kennedy! This is kinda what I was afraid of... and given limited experience, I'm sadly unconvinced the meds do anything positive for me (if anything at all), and -- again limited experience -- the great results I have chewing crystallized ginger on land seem to reach a point of limited help at sea.

It's few months before I have to decide, and this is probably not the time to do it (resting up from a trip) but Galapagos by Dive Boat might not be the smartest trip for me at this time. Thanks for the input.

Unfortunately that's really the only way to see the amazing sights of Wolf and Darwin Islands. I'll take 3 old-fashioned Dramamine (instead of the two recommended) and wash it down with lots of wine for overnight crossings. Note that this is not a recommendation, but just what I find works for me personally. For some reason, that combo usually gets me through the worst of crossings (12-14' seas on the Tahiti Aggressor once, two Galapagos trips, and Cocos), but if I can't medicate properly by taking my pills well in advance, or if it's too early in the day to start hitting the wine bottle, I'm in trouble.

On my last Galapagos trip, I thought I was in the clear having survived the round-trip Wolf-Darwin crossing. Unfortunately there was a nasty wind blowing in the central islands when we were on a 4-hour leg, causing big swells and making the boat list severely to one side. That combo threw me off and I was forced to bed, as lying horizontal wishing I were dead seems to be the only way for me to survive it once it hits, forget about all that fresh air and looking at the horizon nonsense. That was when the toilet exploded, but that's another story.

It's not just the crossings you have to worry about. Getting dropped off or picked up in the big swells around the Arch at Darwin ensure for a rather "challenging" skiff ride and I've yanked my stomach contents over the side more than once (though I partially blame that on the wine & Dramamine regimen from the night before).

My only advice is to find something that works for you, or maybe just pray? Most of the time the boat is anchored somewhere calmer or traveling through milder seas. Even the big crossing is only a third of the length of the Cocos crossing. And most people get their "sea legs" after a little while and can tolerate it much better. If you're going during whale shark season, I recommend toughing it out (just stay well-hydrated after you've been worshipping the "head" idol for hours at a time) because the show is so worth it.