Boat Diving

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scubabarbie

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Location
Sunderland, England
Hi everyone,

I have just got the chance to do a boat dive off the north east coast in England. Never done a sea dive before and I am concerned about sea sickness under the water. Has this happenend to anyone and if so any tips on dealing with it. Not worried too much about the cold, got new drysuit to cope with that. Any advice gratefully received. I have heard a few horror stories about people throwing up under water and have to confess that would totally freak me out!
 
I take antihistimines the night before and the morning of the dives to help prevent motion sickness, and there's lot of other tricks. Anytime you feel it coming on, watch the horizon only.

In the water, this is a lot less likely, but - if you have to puke, hold your reg in your mouth and puke thru it. It's built for it, and this will keep you from inhaling water in the subsequent gagging. After you stop, you can then rinse your mouth and the reg clean.

How many dives have you logged, how challenging is this dive considered, and who will you be buddying with? :D
 
scubabarbie:
Hi everyone,

I have just got the chance to do a boat dive off the north east coast in England. Never done a sea dive before and I am concerned about sea sickness under the water. Has this happenend to anyone and if so any tips on dealing with it. Not worried too much about the cold, got new drysuit to cope with that. Any advice gratefully received. I have heard a few horror stories about people throwing up under water and have to confess that would totally freak me out!

This is a tough one to answer unless you have a sense of your resistance to sea sickness. Some people have iron stomachs and some get sick every time they go on a boat in the ocean. Your primary concern should be getting sick on the boat and not so much underwater. Once you are underwater you will be stable even if there are large swells on the surface.

It sounds like you are new to a drysuit. I would get some practice dives in to get familar with it, suiting up, etc. The faster and more efficient you are suiting up the less time you have on the surface in the swells. Get your gear ready to go prior to donning the drysuit and thermals. This should be just about the last step. While on the boat spend as little time as possible looking down. Focus on a land mass or the horizon if no land is visible. This will stabilize you. If you start to feel a little woozy stop what you are doing and look at the land/horizon. Prior to the boat/dive trip eat something stable. Not the time to chow pizza or junk food ;) Be well hydrated but not to the point of a super full stomach.

I have never been sick underwater fortunately. You can puke into your reg if it comes to that. If you feel yourself getting sick abort the dive to avoid this experience. Make slow deliberate movements and turn your head slowly, etc.

There is usually tons more life to see in the ocean compared to freshwater. Have a great dive.

--Matt
 
scubabarbie:
Hi everyone,

I have just got the chance to do a boat dive off the north east coast in England. Never done a sea dive before and I am concerned about sea sickness under the water. Has this happenend to anyone and if so any tips on dealing with it. Not worried too much about the cold, got new drysuit to cope with that. Any advice gratefully received. I have heard a few horror stories about people throwing up under water and have to confess that would totally freak me out!

It is more common to get seasick on a boat then while underwater, But I have had two different dive buddies get motion sickness while diving. It both cases it was on very shallowdives of about 20 feet and there was surge pushing us back and forth through five or six foot swings over the rocks. The repetitive back and forth motion affects some people but not most peple. At greater depths and greater distance from shore surge is not normally present. (just in case the term "surge" is new, I mean a strong and fast current that reverses direction every 10 or so seconds.)
You can use surge to your advantage by just letting it push you forward and then hold on to something (if possable without causing damage to you or environment) while the water is reversed. This works on some local shalow reefs but if you are taking a boat you may not run into these condidtions as it mostly happens near shore.

I suggest taking "dramamine" or whatever they call over the counter seasickness medication where you live. Take it at least one hour before leaving land as the drugs can not cure seasickness but they can prevent it. Likely you will not have a problem so you can cut the dose in half for the next trip and skip it on the third.

You _can_ throw up onder water safely. Take the reg out part way and hit the purge valve. Of course after that you'll be headed up.
 
If you do find yourself throwing up underwater be prepared to be surrounded by a great quantity of fish. The do not call it "feeding the fishes" for nothing.
 
ChrisA:
You _can_ throw up onder water safely. Take the reg out part way and hit the purge valve. Of course after that you'll be headed up.

umm...i wouldn't be taking the reg out at all, as Don said, hold it in place, wont be the most pleasant experience, but it will work(it's quite the sight!!) and the fish do love it ;)

Another point would be not to sit near the engine where you may have some fumes, these fumes never help- they're sometimes the only thing that make people sick!! Stick to the middle of the boat lookin straight ahead, dont lock urself in the bathroom cos that really doesn't help. But as most people have already said, you will feel better once u hit the water.

Take care

SF
 
What about taking Bonine? Won't that help regarless of whether you are up above or down below?
 
del_mo:
What about taking Bonine? Won't that help regarless of whether you are up above or down below?
Yes, of course - that, or another antihistimine. As I said earlier here, I take them the night before and the morning of as a preventative.
 
I thought Bonine was an anti-nausea pill as opposed to an antihistime. I also take an antihistimine when I'm feeling fine for, I thought, other reasons.
 
I suffer from motion sickness both on boats and airplanes. Anytime I've felt a little sick on the boat, getting under water has always solved my problem immediately. Now I've begun using the patch (which I love!!), so no longer have concerns about motion sickness on a boat or plane.
 

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