How to anticipate (possible) seasickness?

[RonFrank]

I do not get car sick, or have any type of motion sickness. I've never been seasick.

Based on what you describe, you may not either. I believe everyone can get seasick given the right conditions, but if you are not predisposed towards motion sickness, it's going to take a heck of a sea to put you over the top. They don't generally allow divers in the water when the seas get that bad.

I think the advice you have been provided is great. However I would not take anything and see what happens first. If you discover you do get seasick, get into the water as quickly as possible, and it will pass. At that point you may want to take some medication, just make sure to start with something with no side effects like Ginger.

 

[Gary D.]

This is one of those things that are hard, if not impossible to predict if it has never happened to you. I have seen many people that have never been sea sick get sick or feel a bit ill on vessels or in places you would never think it would happen.

I for one am an old Tin Can Sailor (Destroyers). They are some of the roughest ridding ships in the Navy. They like to ride over one swell and then go under the next two. Mine was 378’ long, 42’ wide, 35’ tall and had a 13’ draft. They were a pencil on the water. There were times we would walk on the bulkheads because she was rocking so bad. But it war rare for anyone to get sea sick.

So you’d think sea sickness was a moot point, nope. Put me on a Bird Farm and within an hour or two I start feeling minor sea sickness. So get me back to my Can.

What you eat, how you feel in general and the vessel can all cause people to get sick or at least feel a bit ill at any given time. So as a good precaution take some ginger along. It’s some good stuff and is all natural.

Gary D.

 

[diver 85]

I'm considering doing a diving trip to Catalina. Some of the websites say, "bring ... and seasickness tablets."

So: I've been boating on pretty large lakes (in some unpleasantly) choppy conditions my whole life without it bothering me, planes don't bother me, nor do roller coasters. But I haven't traveled by boat much in open waters, which I'm told is somewhat different than large lakes (different frequency of the waves)?

I'd hate to medicate just in case; but I don't know if its too late to medicate once you feel seasickness coming on. So I'm basically clueless as to whether I'm really subject to it or not.

Any advice as to what to do?

lol.........go without medicating & find out----you DO NOT want to get seasick though.....My advice(& I run my private offshore fishing boat--50+ miles one way many times in the Gulf) is to try a little bit of meds, you won't regret it one bit IMO......btw, I've had people get off on unmanned rigs 60 miles out saying 'on your way back tonite, PICK ME UP, I'm not staying on this rollercoaster'..........

 

[cmburch]

The Channel Islands are great!! I have been out for several days with Truth Aquatics out of Santa Barbara. It does not sound like you will have any problem. Of course, heat, food that does not agree with your stomach, the smell of barf, and people around you barfing may have an affect. But this would only be for pretty bad uneven swells on the trip out or in. The conditions have been great, so it should not be a problem especially for someone not prone to motion sickness.

I like the banana pancakes served on the boat, but the smell of frying food can set some off. So having something in your stomach that is not greasy helps. Carrying some type of seasick pill, but not experimenting for the first time with it that day may be a good idea. Kaiser use to prescribe Scopolamine and Meclizine (Antivert) for those that actually have problems, but they take some getting use to.

Advising someone jump into the ocean when sick to solve the motion sickness may be dangerous. No need to SCUBA dive if not operating at 100%. A few days ago a woman with motion sickness on the boat was advised to dive to "cure it". She explosively barfed at 75' into her reg and out her nose into her mask. She tore her mask off at 75', filled her BC, violated her computer on the way to the surface and lived to tell about it. On the ocean, there may be no rescue helicopters fast enough to save your life.

There is a lot of good advice. Don't worry about it and have fun. For a day trip, there will be divers on the boat with ginger, Bonine, and Dramamine and advice to help should slight motion sickness occur.

 

[MeiLing]

Advising someone jump into the ocean when sick to solve the motion sickness may be dangerous. No need to SCUBA dive if not operating at 100%. A few days ago a woman with motion sickness on the boat was advised to dive to "cure it". She explosively barfed at 75' into her reg and out her nose into her mask. She tore her mask off at 75', filled her BC, violated her computer on the way to the surface and lived to tell about it. On the ocean, there may be no rescue helicopters fast enough to save your life.

I don't think that he meant to dive while you are in the thralls of it. I think that he meant getting off the boat and taking a dip, which can sometimes quell it if you are starting to feel the twinges.

While I do not usually get seasick, I am very prone to car sickness. So, obviously, the right conditions (or wrong as it may be) on a boat can set me off. The smell of diesel, barf, greasy or acidic food, waves coming at the boat in multiple directions, etc. And I don't do any meds.

I did a dive once, where I geared up, got in water and hung on a tag line for 45 minutes waiting for the sun to go down because I knew if I stayed on the boat I'd be barfing into my regulator on the dive. Not a skill that I have any desire to practice, much less master! And I didn't want to miss the dive.

Getting into the water, if it's an option, can help because it will cool you down and the motion of the water is much less than on the boat.

However, if you are fully in the thralls of seasickness, it is advisable to stay topside.

 

[RedWingDiver]

I don't think that he meant to dive while you are in the thralls of it. I think that he meant getting off the boat and taking a dip, which can sometimes quell it if you are starting to feel the twinges.

While I do not usually get seasick, I am very prone to car sickness. So, obviously, the right conditions (or wrong as it may be) on a boat can set me off. The smell of diesel, barf, greasy or acidic food, waves coming at the boat in multiple directions, etc. And I don't do any meds.

I did a dive once, where I geared up, got in water and hung on a tag line for 45 minutes waiting for the sun to go down because I knew if I stayed on the boat I'd be barfing into my regulator on the dive. Not a skill that I have any desire to practice, much less master! And I didn't want to miss the dive.

Getting into the water, if it's an option, can help because it will cool you down and the motion of the water is much less than on the boat.

However, if you are fully in the thralls of seasickness, it is advisable to stay topside.

I used to brag about never getting seasick until one fateful boat trip in the Keys. Of the 15 or so on the boat, only the crew and my buddy (a sailor himself) didn't get queasy. Everyone else did to some degree, so I heard all of the stories about getting in the water, and that the regs are tough enough to handle it if you barf underwater. Just purge the reg and go along your merry way.:11: In my case, I guess that implies they expected a dip to solve things at any stage of seasickness.
Of course, if you just do your business topside and get it over with before diving (like I ended up doing), you're probably better off.

I had to admit though, I honestly wondered what it would feel like to barf underwater.

 

[ClayJar]

[...]I knew if I stayed on the boat I'd be barfing into my regulator on the dive. Not a skill that I have any desire to practice, much less master! And I didn't want to miss the dive.

Another reminder that divers should always be sure to chew their food well to prevent potentially poor regulator performance.

Getting into the water, if it's an option, can help because it will cool you down and the motion of the water is much less than on the boat.

For some reason, when I'm seasick, I'd rather be *anywhere* but in the water at the surface. In fact, more than once I've felt a bit off on the boat, done a dive without incident, and fed the fish almost immediately upon breaking the surface. I guess the surface just hates me.

I had to admit though, I honestly wondered what it would feel like to barf underwater.

Honestly? It really doesn't feel any different, except that instead of bending forward, you just basically curl up a little. The only strange bit about it is holding a reg in your mouth as you feed the fish. (I *do* recommend you hold your reg in your mouth while coughing, sneezing, or fish feeding, just as a precaution.)

Of course, if you're ascending on a line, stop and hold on until the episode is complete. While you're hurling, you're holding your breath, so it's best not to be ascending until you're breathing normally again. Oh, and once you're back to normal, feel free to swap to your alternate and shake out your primary reg. Just swap back right away in case you have another round coming later. :biggrin:

 

[goldenbear01]

I had to admit though, I honestly wondered what it would feel like to barf underwater.

It's funny you should say that. Though a noob to diving, I've already fed the fish several times. The first time I had a SCUBA related fish-feeding incident (SCUBARFI), was when I was on a the boat on day 2 of my checkout dives for OW--but I've only fed the fish once while underwater. Oddly enough it was as I was doing my ascent that I felt my old buddy Ralph (he used to visit quite often in my college days) starting the Heimlich. Not wanting to risk a possible fouled reg, I took it out of my mouth and and just went with the flow. Luckily for me, since it was a morning dive and I don't normally eat breakfast, I didn't have much fish food, unfortunately, this also meant that I didn't get to see many make any new fish friends that day.

Incidentally, when I get seasick, I tend to feel nauseated with little to no appetite until after Ralph has made an appearance and helped me feel as pretty as a runway model. I generally find that afterward, I tend to feel better--and can even eat greasy foods aboard a rocking boat with gusto! Bon apetite!

 

[goldenbear01]

Incidentally, after I finished my SCUBARFI underwater, I put the reg back in my mouth. Does anyone know whether it's better to keep the reg in or have it out when suffering from a case of SCUBARFI?

 

[RedWingDiver]

Honestly?

Yeah, honestly! I mean, not that I would go seeking it out, mind you! The idea of it doesn't strike fear in my heart or anything. It's just a weird curiosity, I guess. And I gotta admit that it would have made a great story for all my non diving friends (which is 99% of my friends)!

Now, on that particular trip I mentioned, I did almost get to have the experience. We were on moving along a very shallow reef which went from about 25' up to 5' and back down. As we got closer to the surface and we floated for a bit, the effect of the waves buffetted us. Even after doing my thing topside, I started getting queasy again and felt the urge coming. Just when I thought I might, I looked up and was totally distracted by the beautiful sight of a black tip reef shark. He was just hanging there almost motionless despite the wave action, and then in a split second, he was just gone.

So yeah, I guess that's another cure for seasickness!