Seasick on first liveaboard?

[drrich2]

I've noticed much more sea sickness on day boats; did see an Italian woman afflicted with it during the crossing aboard the Cayman Aggressor IV on what was otherwise a smooth, wonderful trip. When weather cooperates, that boat departs Grand Cayman and heads to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac for part of the week.

My point is, consider time of year (if sea conditions tend to be seasonal) and whether the boat will be making a long crossing of some sort. I have no idea whether Komodo or Palau have such issues; never been.

Richard.

 

[boulderjohn]

Question: Does "double hull" mean catamaran?

yes.

 

[Kevrumbo]

. . . I get motion sick very easily and quickly; just looking at my scuba gear for more than a few minutes straight can ruin the day -- and that's on meds (meclazine). I never throw up; I just remain nauseous the rest of the time on the water. I've learned the best things to do to make me feel a little better is to have the wind in my face (unfortunately on day boats that usually comes with fumes, which are the worst for seasicknes), look backwards, preferably at land, or close my eyes. I end up being a miserable dive companion. I'm hoping a liveaboard will change that. Is my hope misplaced?

Most people don't get motion sickness while driving a car or piloting a boat/plane; the reason being because you're directly effecting the action of the vessel, you see what actions you have to take to steer a clear passage, you anticipate and react to the dynamic forces that result from such actions. Your mind/body kinesthetics are synchronized, your vestibular senses unconfounded, and you don't develop the nausea associated with motion sickness.

Here's how to achieve that state as a passenger on a diveboat:

Look not only at the Horizon, but also at the railing of the boat in the foreground --and see how it all moves relative to each other as the boat makes way through the swells. Memorize that movement and close your eyes, feel the boat's rhythm moving through the swells, and "see" that railing/horizon movement in your mind's eye. Anticipate where that railing/horizon orientation will be when you open your eyes . . .and finally open your eyes to see it and confirm it. Convince your mind and inner ear that you are in dynamic motion based on your sense of balance, tactile/kinesthetic feedback, and coordinating-synchronizing it all with the movement pattern of the railing/horizon which you just memorized. . .

In other words . . .don't anticipate being seasick --anticipate being in control, knowing & feeling what the boat's motion is going to be. With practice of this simple visualization, you can even "quell the queasiness" in the roughest sea conditions --all without any medication of any kind.

Again --All you gotta do is look at the horizon, see how it moves relative to the boat's motion and memorize that pattern, and then get a feeling for the rhythm of the swells and synchronize it with horizon's motion. Now when you go down belowdecks, just play it all back in your "mind's eye" as you begin to feel & anticipate the boat's apparent motion --or even imagine the boat belowdecks is transparent and you can actually see the horizon & swells in sync with the boat's apparent motion-- it's all just visualization without medication and it works!

That's the visualization technique you gotta practice, and unfortunately it's difficult to do if you're concentrating on something else like setting up your gear, reading a book, watching a video, worrying about running out of ginger pills/dramamine/bonine etc. But once you get good at it, you can hold the malaise to a reasonable level even in stormy seas --a "four" for instance on a scale from 1 to 10, with "ten" being projectile vomiting, extreme nausea, hugging the rail and begging for someone to shoot you . . . (In my thirty hour passage from mainland Costa Rica to Cocos Island, I was cognitively exhausted using the technique over an extended period, and just simply fell asleep naturally). . .

 

[Schwob]

Most people don't get motion sickness while driving a car or piloting a boat/plane; the reason being because you're directly effecting the action of the vessel, you see what actions you have to take to steer a clear passage, you anticipate and react to the dynamic forces that result from such actions. Your mind/body kinesthetics are synchronized, your vestibular senses unconfounded, and you don't develop the nausea associated with motion sickness.

Here's how to achieve that state as a passenger on a diveboat:

Look not only at the Horizon, but also at the railing of the boat in the foreground --and see how it all moves relative to each other as the boat makes way through the swells. Memorize that movement and close your eyes, feel the boat's rhythm moving through the swells, and "see" that railing/horizon movement in your mind's eye. Anticipate where that railing/horizon orientation will be when you open your eyes . . .and finally open your eyes to see it and confirm it. Convince your mind and inner ear that you are in dynamic motion based on your sense of balance, tactile/kinesthetic feedback, and coordinating-synchronizing it all with the movement pattern of the railing/horizon which you just memorized. . .

In other words . . .don't anticipate being seasick --anticipate being in control, knowing & feeling what the boat's motion is going to be. With practice of this simple visualization, you can even "quell the queasiness" in the roughest sea conditions --all without any medication of any kind.

Again --All you gotta do is look at the horizon, see how it moves relative to the boat's motion and memorize that pattern, and then get a feeling for the rhythm of the swells and synchronize it with horizon's motion. Now when you go down belowdecks, just play it all back in your "mind's eye" as you begin to feel & anticipate the boat's apparent motion --or even imagine the boat belowdecks is transparent and you can actually see the horizon & swells in sync with the boat's apparent motion-- it's all just visualization without medication and it works!

That's the visualization technique you gotta practice, and unfortunately it's difficult to do if you're concentrating on something else like setting up your gear, reading a book, watching a video, worrying about running out of ginger pills/dramamine/bonine etc. But once you get good at it, you can hold the malaise to a reasonable level even in stormy seas --a "four" for instance on a scale from 1 to 10, with "ten" being projectile vomiting, extreme nausea, hugging the rail and begging for someone to shoot you . . . (In my thirty hour passage from mainland Costa Rica to Cocos Island, I was cognitively exhausted using the technique over an extended period, and just simply fell asleep naturally). . .

No idea how much water this holds, but I will try it when I have a chance to.

So far, what worked best for me was laying down, closing my eyes and trying to sleep. And I may take the med's rhe whole trip next time. Didn't miss a dive, but wondered if I should have dinner a couple of times. Worked all out fine, but I can tell when I best lay down...

Waiting (hovering) in a catamaran (dayboat) in 5 to 6 foot swells while the mooring at a dive site is made free by another boat, readying the gear was way worse for me than driving a 40 foot sailing cat in the Gulf stream against higher and steeper waves long ago...
That's why I am thinking I may try the technique Kevrumbo describes.

 

[Damselfish]

I don't get seasick - I will be the one on the bow thinking it's the greatest amusement park ride. But my husband does, and some friends we dive with do. Everyone seems different with what kind of motion and conditions bother them and how much, whether they actually get their "sea legs", and what works to help them. (My husband is a fan of the Scop patch - he can make do with Dramamine on a plane, but not on most boats. Even with the patch it's iffy sometimes.)

It's true that in the same area, a big liveaboard will likely be less of a problem for you than day boats. And a catamaran will be more stable than a monohull. Conditions in Palau have been pretty benign our 2 trips there. Our first trip was on the Palau Aggressor II, a catamaran, was like cruising around on glass. Our second trip there was on the Ocean Hunter 3, which is a monohull, but I seem to recall that being pretty mellow too. Do note that in Palau you might not be diving off the liveaboard itself, but off a chase boat. (Since Palau is mostly drift diving, and a 100' boat makes a lousy chase boat.) We almost never dove directly off the Palau Aggressor, I think only the first dive. It's easier for them to just leave all the gear on the chase boat, it's what they're set up for. I don't recall about the OH3 but they definitely use a chaseboat too for many dives. So you will still be spending some time on smaller boats, but nothing like the long trips you would have if you did land-based diving in Palau.

There are definitely liveaboards that can be pretty rough sometimes, especially those that need to make longer unsheltered open water crossings. (My most memorable was an overnight crossing to the atolls on the Sun Dancer II in Belize, hanging on the bed with a foot on the wall to keep from falling out. Another was a crossing Little Cayman on the Cayman Aggressor, a lucky break during a stretch of weeks they didn't attempt it - didn't bother me, but some people spent the duration on the sundeck, jockeying for prime positions on the midline of the boat. I only remember it because I had to go downstairs and fetch things from the cabin.) And there are some liveaboards that do some or all of their diving off small boats for various reasons, rather than the mothership. So you'll need to evaluate trips on a case by case basis as you figure out what you can deal with.

 

[Kevrumbo]

No idea how much water this holds, but I will try it when I have a chance to.

So far, what worked best for me was laying down, closing my eyes and trying to sleep. And I may take the med's rhe whole trip next time. Didn't miss a dive, but wondered if I should have dinner a couple of times. Worked all out fine, but I can tell when I best lay down...

Waiting (hovering) in a catamaran (dayboat) in 5 to 6 foot swells while the mooring at a dive site is made free by another boat, readying the gear was way worse for me than driving a 40 foot sailing cat in the Gulf stream against higher and steeper waves long ago...
That's why I am thinking I may try the technique Kevrumbo describes.

--Here's an easy beginning exercise to help develop your Cognitive/Kinesthetic Awareness and to understand the basic mechanics of it all:

Stand-up, close your eyes, and have a friend push you at random intervals from any direction around you. Try to steady yourself and resist being knocked over as best you can. After a while, you might start feeling disoriented or even dizzy & nauseous (the start of motion sickness).

Take a break . . .and then try again:

Stand-up, close your eyes, and this time have your friend push once from directly in front of you, and then 5 seconds later push you coming from your right side. Repeat this set over and over --Anticipate, brace yourself and counter-react to these pushes to keep from being knocked over. You shouldn't be as disoriented as you were before because you're now in control, countering these predictable, periodic and expected forces trying to knock you over.

Now apply this to being on the diveboat: you see the swells coming in a regular predictable frequency (every 12 seconds for example) --Anticipate, brace yourself and counter-react to these "pushes" to keep from being knocked over. Now close your eyes and do the same thing. At the very least, with practice (and hopefully easy rhythm swells, and non-heavy, stormy or chaotic seas to start off with!), you should be able hold off the nausea to a tolerable level.

Be patient and don't give up: it takes time, concentration & effort to develop and apply this cognitive/kinesthetic technique to the seemingly complex 3-dimensional forces acting on you at sea and achieve some relief of motion sickness symptoms . . .the gist is to figure out and feel the rhythm of the swells and anticipate yours & the boat's resultant movement. . .

 

[Schwob]

--Here's an easy beginning exercise to help develop your Cognitive/Kinesthetic Awareness and to understand the basic mechanics of it all:

Stand-up, close your eyes, and have a friend push you at random intervals from any direction around you. Try to steady yourself and resist being knocked over as best you can. After a while, you might start feeling disoriented or even dizzy & nauseous (the start of motion sickness).

Take a break . . .and then try again:

Stand-up, close your eyes, and this time have your friend push once from directly in front of you, and then 5 seconds later push you coming from your right side. Repeat this set over and over --Anticipate, brace yourself and counter-react to these pushes to keep from being knocked over. You shouldn't be as disoriented as you were before because you're now in control, countering these predictable, periodic and expected forces trying to knock you over.

Now apply this to being on the diveboat: you see the swells coming in a regular predictable frequency (every 12 seconds for example) --Anticipate, brace yourself and counter-react to these "pushes" to keep from being knocked over. Now close your eyes and do the same thing. At the very least, with practice (and hopefully easy rhythm swells, and non-heavy, stormy or chaotic seas to start off with!), you should be able hold off the nausea to a tolerable level.

Be patient and don't give up: it takes time, concentration & effort to develop and apply this cognitive/kinesthetic technique to the seemingly complex 3-dimensional forces acting on you at sea and achieve some relief of motion sickness symptoms . . .the gist is to figure out and feel the rhythm of the swells and anticipate yours & the boat's resultant movement. . .

So. If I am standing w/o holding on to anything (or just very loosely for in case, but not to steady at all) and balancing out all the motion, am I sort of doing all this automatically w/o knowing I am doing this? (Cause it feels a lot better than sitting or really holding on to steady, except some overzealous mate may take issue with someone not sitting... but it sure feels a lot better...)

 

[Kevrumbo]

So. If I am standing w/o holding on to anything (or just very loosely for in case, but not to steady at all) and balancing out all the motion, am I sort of doing all this automatically w/o knowing I am doing this? (Cause it feels a lot better than sitting or really holding on to steady, except some overzealous mate may take issue with someone not sitting... but it sure feels a lot better...)

Do what it takes to be aware, accommodate and learn what the predictable periodic dynamic motions are that are affecting you, and how you in anticipation/expectation would react to them to counteract motion sickness as described above. Take these learned reactions and develop them with practice, into "automatic habits". . .

 

[ofra]

My diving wife gets seasick very easily and after many years we just decided that shore diving works best when we dive together and is the most enjoyable experience for her. Also, single tank boat dives in good conditions with trips 20 mins or less work well. If you are as prone to motion sickness as you describe, why tackle a week long liveaboard? Why not find a nice place with great shore diving instead? Bon and Cur come to mind.

You make a very important point. And that's exactly what I've tried to do these past three years.

But after traveling halfway around the world to Rangiroa, FP, only to dive the same two dive sites our entire stay, instead of seeing all that area had to offer as only a liveaboard can provide, and then hearing some people say they find liveaboards are easier on seasick symptoms than dayboats, a part of me feels I owe it to myself to TRY a liveaboard, if there is a good chance I will actually feel OK after the first day. I guess what I'm hoping for with this forum is to figure out whether I have at least a good chance of that, and to choose a livaboard that will give me the best chance of success.

If I take the plunge and find that it takes me more than a day to get my "sea legs," I will return to shore/short rides, and will probably dive a lot less.

Thank you for your input. In the frenzy to find the best liveaboard to try, it's good to be reminded that there are other options.

 

[ofra]

Look not only at the Horizon, but also at the railing of the boat in the foreground --and see how it all moves relative to each other as the boat makes way through the swells. Memorize that movement and close your eyes, feel the boat's rhythm moving through the swells, and "see" that railing/horizon movement in your mind's eye. Anticipate where that railing/horizon orientation will be when you open your eyes . . .and finally open your eyes to see it and confirm it. Convince your mind and inner ear that you are in dynamic motion based on your sense of balance, tactile/kinesthetic feedback, and coordinating-synchronizing it all with the movement pattern of the railing/horizon which you just memorized. . .

Do you have a self help tape with this mantra? If not, I might create one.