First dive went pretty wrong, there's a lesson here.

[LarryHinDC]

Great job of keeping your wits! Though it sounds like you need to give your DH a refresher course on how thumbing a dive is not a question or suggestion .

But if you were already 30 minutes into the dive, I'd be surprised if what you experienced was seasickness. So you probably had something else going on there. But again, you did a good job and lived to tell the tale. Welcome to ScubaBoard.

 

[seaducer]

Why isn't this taught?

Probably is unethical to induce vomiting underwater for training purposes.:shocked2:

Nevermind, I just re-read your post and I think you were talking about why it isn't in a book?

That's a great question, I think most people's first thought would be to remove the reg, which could cause them to drown. My instructor warned us about that too way back when, but I don't recall if it was mentioned in the book or not.

So far I ha...never mind, not gonna jinx it!

 

[SkipperJohn]

I have been boating for over 30 years now. For much of these years I've gone through all sorts of situations and crew many who would suffer with seasickness. Here is some good advice to follow for anyone.

1. Watch what you eat the night before. No matter how good that pizza sounds Tuesday night, it doesn't feel like a good idea Wednesday morning. Stick with semi-dry non-greasy foods that are easy to digest. (my personal favorite is broiled seafood!)
2. Have an easy breakfast. You should not consider those 3 slices that didn't get eaten the night before. Now a deli greasy egg sandwich. Dry cereals easy on the milk and skim is better. Again, no grease.
3. Pretzels are your friend. They are a base (as in acid/base) and can help to neutralize excess stomach acid. They also hold off hunger which can add to the onset of seasickness.
4. Easy on the fluids. Fluids slosh around in your tank (stomach). This is never a good idea ever play with a baby after a bottle of formula?) While staying hydrated is a good idea should you get sick (this can help to prevent dehydration as you purge everything in your stomach) too much of a good thing is never good.
5. If you need any seasick remedies, as stated above, start the night before. Be advised, many remedies can cause a condition known as cotton mouth. I should think this isn't good when setting out to breathe very dry air for the next hour. Taking the meds the night before will help as this condition only lasts a few hours on the first dossage. Of course you should take more according to the manufacturers recommendations when you get up and if needed just as you step on the boat. Be prepared to be tired.
6. Natural remedies help. Ginger pills seem to work well. I have a friend who has had great success with the wrist bands (the electric versions) and REAL ginger ale (most ginger sodas have no ginger in them). Also a bit of coke (many years ago parents gave kids coke syrup for nausea which was purchased form your local drug store).

Other things to do on the boat include:

• Not burring your head. Stay focused on the horizon. Don't fiddle with your computer, regulator or anything else for more than a minute without a break.
• Watch the waves. If you anticipate the rocking and it doesn't surprise you, you will be much less likely to succumb
• Stand up & stay flexible. You will absorb much of the motion of the boat in your legs. If you sit you rock with the boat.
• Do not go below! A trip to the head or any below-deck compartment is sure to bring on trouble for anyone who is even a little prone.
• Breathe deep. Fresh air is good (stay away form the engine exhaust).

Once the boat stops, get ready to get off, a boat not making way (not under power) rocks in a unique way that is much worse. Often people who get sick on a still boat will be fine once underway.
Once it starts, this is all pretty much useless. Nothing seems to make it better. The only thing you can try to do is prevent it.

I hope this helps.

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

Thanks for posting this. It will definitely stay in my mind now to use the octo or at worse the reg if this ever happens (hopefully not). Because I think most people's first instinct would be to take their reg out, but I can see why this could be dangerous.

 

[lmorin]

"dimenhydrinate" is the active ingredient in Dramamine. It makes most people quite sleepy. As a non-drowsy alternative, try Bonine which contains the generic drug, meclizine. Some states allow meclizine to be sold in 100 tablet quantities. It's cheap. Some states only allow it to be sold in smaller, therefore more expensive (per pill) quantities. Bonine costs more. Same stuff. Meclizine is sold under other names, too, I believe.

 

[Garrobo]

Dymenhtdinate makes you sleepy. Never noticed. ZZZZZZZZZZ!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

When I surfaced, I was a long way from the boat. I had a "bright" idea: I took off one of my fins and waved it to get their attention. The boat zoomed over to me and they threw me a life preserver. In my excitement, I had forgotten that waving means diver in trouble. I assure you that the conversation I had with the boat captain and dive master afterwards wasn't as much fun as the dive!

@Reg Braithwaite: Hopefully you learned to give the 1-arm or 2-arm "OK" sign immediately upon surfacing. The crew on-board should be acknowledging your "OK" sign with one of their own. (They do have people looking out for divers as they surface, right?) Then they know that everything's fine and that either you'll swim towards the boat or they'll come and get you. From the crew's perspective, anything that even remotely looks like a distress signal, e.g., splashing around, arm-waving, fin-waving, etc., should be treated as such. This kind of communication should be covered in the pre-dive brief.

Have fun and dive safe...

 

[cyberfed]

My only concern with this was you gave the thumbs up and your buddy didn't understand, ANY diver new or old should have been drilled to know what that sign means. Thumbs up - DIVE IS OVER SURFACE NOW. It is not questioned, its not a debate its a command end of story. I can only blame the instructor for not emphasizing this signal enough. That and out of air are the two signs (at the VERY least) that any diver should have burned in their memory first dive or not. Hopefully that is and was the last time you will have that trouble when giving the surface signal.

I had almost a similar experience on one of my first ocean dives.
I started to get dizzy and queezy during my 3 min saftey stop at 20 ft.
The problem was at that depth the waves really toss you around, you feel yourself swaying around but your eyes don't register it. Once I surfaced a gagged for a second but I was ok.

Next time try and spend most of your dive at a deeper depth so the surf doesn't affect you as much. Take some sea sickness pills about an hour before you plan to hit the water that will help too.

I hope to never have to throw up in a reg..that just sounds horrible.

 

[Easily Amused]

Thanks Everyone,
For the insight, support and suggestions, I've learned a lot from all of you.

Standing on the bottom dry heaving huh

Yeah, really sorry about that.


Be assured that Hubby & I will not have the "UP" discussion again. It's a rule now, not a "Hey, wadda you think, should we go up now?" To be fair, we both thought he would be the one to end the dive, being that he's an air hog and all. I may have mentioned that a time or two before the dive. He may have gotten a wee bit tired of hearing it. On the plus side, we now have a signal for "fish feeding time".

So, the boat spots me a fair distance away and gives me the "OK?" signal. Now, I'm not in peril ~as in need to be rescued right now~ but a swim to the boat would be very difficult while dry-heaving. How do I answer the "OK?" ? I know it's not a little wave because I'm in just a little peril. The boat did come pick us up when I didn't signal.

We had top notch instruction; our instructor mentioned you could sneeze, cough, yawn (as if) and throw up through your reg, but what stuck in my mind was not his words, but the fish feeding visual his buddy gave me.

I'll try some of the suggestions for seasickness and figure out what will work for me. Hope it doesn't take too long.

And you have a great story when you find the humor in it later on.

It's taken me 2 months to get here, but then, I'm easily amused!.

 

[bleeb]

So, the boat spots me a fair distance away and gives me the "OK?" signal. Now, I'm not in peril ~as in need to be rescued right now~ but a swim to the boat would be very difficult while dry-heaving. How do I answer the "OK?" ? I know it's not a little wave because I'm in just a little peril. The boat did come pick us up when I didn't signal.

Fist on top of head, forearm sort of horizontal, with elbow sticking out sideways away from body. Think of a big (well, triangular) 'O'.

Just like the one-handed OK this can be both a question and an answer. For example, they might have been doing this in your direction from the boat, only if you didn't know the signal you wouldn't have recognized it to answer as they expected.

Around here, most boat crews ask and expect a response when you first enter the water, to make sure you didn't hit your head or something.