Ocean Virgins no more! (With a question...)

[Lordof7]

My wife and I made our first ocean dive this past weekend. We were down in Morehead City, NC, and had the pleasure of diving on the Indra. Our experience was fantastic! Most of this had to do with the fact that we went out with my brother who is both a research diver and a DM, and who also has his own boat! It was great! Topside conditions were unbelievable - I've seen lakes with more chop and swell! Vis was great (15-20ft) and the water was nice and warm! We saw several very large barracuda on the wreck, as well as a variety of smaller lifeforms. My bro pointed out all kinds of stuff we would've completely overlooked: Christmas tree worms, rare corrals, etc. My favorite find was a sea urchin slowly moving along the sand who had covered itself with shells as a type of camouflage! Very cool. Our dive was to 60ft, for 30 min. I would definitely recommend the Indra for ocean newbies - a nice upright wreck sitting at 60ft, with interesting stuff to see. My wife, who was uncomfortable in the pool, and iffy in the quarry thoroughly enjoyed the ocean - she felt she finally had space to move without hitting the pool wall or other divers in the crowded quarry. The water was warmer than the quarry we did our checkout dives in too (Lake Rawlings, VA).

One question for those more experienced: During the last 10 ft of ascent I started feeling a little nauseous. Once we surfaced, it got worse and I heaved a few times (not much came up due to light breakfast.) I got back on the boat, and heaved a few more times over the side (again, not much if anything actually came up.) After getting on the boat, I started having a moderate headache. I drank some water and ate some snacks, and after about 15 minutes, both the nausea and headache went away. I have had the post-dive headache before, but not the sickness. Although in the past I have been motion sick in a variety of situations, this hasn't bothered as much in the past 5 years or so. I can think of several things that may have caused this - dehydration or hunger (i felt better after eating and drinking), and I didn't sleep well the bight before the dive. I felt fine on the way to the dive, so I don't think it was seasickness. Any thoughts on the post-dive sickness, and how I could avoid it next time? It was the only bad part of a great day!

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board and NC diving. You caught a nice weekend, I was off shore near Wrightsville.
My guess is plain old seasickness. It will come on in some strange ways and divers getting sick near the surface is fairly common. Lack of sleep and a new experience can add to the possibility of seasickness setting in. Try again and if you get sick again, there are some good seasick meds availible.

Come join us n the NC board. We have a lot of active local divers and a lively group. There is a link under my sig.

 

[CJ Waid]

I thought this thread was going to be about something different.

 

[Lordof7]

herman - wish I was local to the area, but I live in central VA, so I'll just have to visit more often! If this happens alot, I will look into seasick meds. Diving is so much fun its not a deal breaker, just a bit of a bummer. Thanks!

CJ Waid - Sorry to disappoint you! Maybe if I said "First time going down in the ocean", it would've been better?

 

[spectrum]

I thought this thread was going to be about something different.

What did you expect, the fathom club?

I'm with Herman.

 

[Mafiaman]

Sounds like one ear was clearing faster than the other causing an unbalance in your equilibrium, this is very common and would cause some dizziness and clear quickly.
People often comment on a quick hissing sound in one ear just before it all clears up.

 

[Lordof7]

Interesting idea Mafiaman. I didn't notice asynchronous clearing, but then again, I was focusing on my depth gauge, as we were doing a free ascent. Come to think of it, the free ascent may have had something to do with it too.

 

[spectrum]

I clear on each breath when dropping. Sometimes that means breathing faster than I otherwise would but at least it has a rythym.

Pete

 

[Devil505]

Hmmm.....Two guesses:

1. The nausea might simply have been a little sea sickness from your motion near the surface. I'll bet it won't happen again!
2. The headache might have been caused by excess CO2 in your body. (To conserve my air, I still have to fight the old habit of "skip breathing" (where a diver deliberately & routinely holds his breath on everything but ascent to make the dive last longer)
I have come up with many sick headaches over the years & didn't know that I was bringing them on myself by not breathing enough & letting CO2 build up in my system.
Perhaps you might have been doing a little unintended skip breathing of your own? Keep breathing all the time!

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Viz of 15-20 feet "great"? wait until you dive in 120 feet viz. also, your first experience with warm water in your ear canals... try closing your eyes in a hot shower and see if you get dizzy. Water either colder or warmer than the normal inner ear temp can set up convection currents in the semicircular canals and produce motion sickness... this isn't theory, I worked in ERs and had to clean out people's ear wax with warm saline irrigation and often had to deal with their barf as well as their ear debris. (Part of brain death examinations is to flush the ears with hot or cold water and see if the eyes flutter --- nystagus --- indicating a stimulation of the balance organ. No response means you are probably history.I've had the misfortune to do this a number of times too.) Solution: meds, I say again, non-drowsy dramamine does not work, use the real thing