[floridaorange]

I've discussed sea sickness with some very experienced boaters over the yrs of some pretty impressive boats & yachts. This forum tends to always provide some unique answers.

The consensus I've found - dramamine is your best option for combatting sea sickness. Facing the bow and putting your face in the wind. Because sea sickness has to do with your inner ear, it occurs randomly - you might be fine every time you go out for years only to find that one day that switches and you develop a sensitivity for the ocean that makes you sea sick every time thereafter.

For me, if getting in the ocean before going out to sea - or while being out - if that's an option - something about being in the water always helps me. Of course staying busy on a boat vs idling in rough waters is good too.

But i'm curious - what works for you to keep sea sickness at bay? Put the lime in the coconut?

[HFW003]

The only way the works for me is to stay of the things!

I get sea sick in the bath.

[cmyx6go]

I can't be inside the cabin. It doesn't matter how large the boat, if I'm inside, I'm done. I've been strapped into fighting chairs in 6 ft seas and I'm OK. If I go inside on a calm day, I'm done. It's the same on large ships. I've done those cruises to nowhere, dinner kind of things and I just can't be inside.

[ToddinTN]

For a single day trip- Take Dramamine the night before, and one hour before departing. Stay out of the cabin, front of the boat. Ginger candies can help while on the boat.

[Tommy-G]

I was on a cruise in a massive storm and my friend who used to race Jet Skis got deathly ill and I was fine.
No idea why I didnt get sick so I have nothing to offer

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by ToddinTN

For a single day trip- Take Dramamine the night before, and one hour before departing. Stay out of the cabin, front of the boat. Ginger candies can help while on the boat.

I like that plan. Ginger has always helped with stomach discomfort.

[G MONEY]

Get the bracelets that hit your pressure pints. They have been a lifesaver for me with all types of motion sickness. They have a tiny little plastic ball that presses on something on the bottom of your wrist. I get car sick in minutes if I'm not driving. They have never let me down. I get them at Target for like 8 bucks

[oVeRdOsE.]

I do simple math, 2 negative gives a positive.

- sickness while drunk on earth

+

- sickness while sober on boat

= no sickness while drunk on a boat

[2000cs]

I’ve only been seasick once, in very rough seas. But I’ve always been told if I feel it coming on to watch the horizon.

[oVeRdOsE.]

for real, I dont have issue, sober or drunk on a boat, my wife does.

but with a good night sleep, a light pasta meal few hours before getting on the boat and 2 glass of wine, normally she's ok, she had to take once gravol, but normally she doesnt.

we have a 38' Monaco Parker. Coming from 32' Doral with 2x 5.0l engine and bravo 3 .

[JP10]

I don't get sea sick luckily, feels like my fam was born to be out on the water. Father has his master unlimited license, brother is closing in on the same. I've spent weeks at a time on the water supporting the USN. With that said, spoonful of ginger.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by ToddinTN

For a single day trip- Take Dramamine the night before, and one hour before departing. Stay out of the cabin, front of the boat. Ginger candies can help while on the boat.

This + sea bands.

[floridaorange]

I'm fine if I'm captaining, and I'm always fine after I throw up once. I'm also generally fine if we are doing something active. But several months ago the sea's were very rough and we were out on this diesel powered sea ray with tons of black smoke. The captain was told to insure we caught fish (next to impossible that day) for a big outdoors company you all know well - Coleman - and so this captain from Nor Cal kept doing circles to stay on top of this ship wreck and after about 2 hours of that, I got a little nauseous... so I went to throw up and for the first time in my life that triggered dehydration. I learned very quickly dehydration + sea sickness is a combo that puts you in the hospital.

I've been on many cruises, yachts, catamaran's for weeks at a time without any issues.

Parker boats are absolutely stunning oVeRdOsE.

I had a band on my wrist, it did seem to help at first, but wasn't enough that day.

[M5Rick]

Some time ago was on a SeaCat craft in a rough sea crossing the Channel to France and the best place to be was in the middle of the craft with no big side effects.

[vreihen16]

On small boats, what I've seen cause chumming over the gunwales the most is drinking carbonated beverages. What happens when you shake the closed bottle? Put it in your stomach, shake, and the same thing happens.

When I go on cruise ships, the first ~12 hours in the open ocean usually leave me feeling disoriented but not sick. Sorta like trying to take your next step, but the deck not being under your foot like your brain expects it. I'm actually not a huge fan of stabilizers on ships, because they seem to make the natural rhythm of the sea into jerky/unpredictable movements. When I get back on shore, I usually feel the dock moving for an hour or so. Made getting off my own boat and riding my motorcycle two hours home interesting a few times.

I've been on several cruises, and used to own a boat. On a cruise ship, try to get a cabin close to the center of the ship. Think of it like a giant teeter-totter, where the ends move a lot but the center stays more or less still. I had a bow-facing forward cabin on one cruise, and was wishing for a seat belt on the head (toilet) in 12-15 foot seas because it was a wild ride! Wound up using a mid-ship public restroom a few times on that cruise, and had to wedge a few cabin drawers closed with socks because their built-in locks wouldn't keep them closed on rough days. Ditto for getting a cabin on a lower deck, or at least spending a lot of time on lower decks during sea days. There's a reason why the crew cabins are all in the bottom of the ship. Of course, all of the full suites and other proper accommodations are on the top decks, so you really don't have much of a choice unless you want to cruise in steerage class.....

[JJ 911SC]

Motion Sickness Patch (over the counter in Canada) works for my wife.

[floridaorange]

Our first cruise 20 years ago, my Mom took us on Carnival (what a mistake), this was during hurricane season. We left the port of Miami, and that damn ship went right around a hurricane from about 6pm - 10pm that night, the whole ship was rocking back and forth, nobody was out of their cabins for about a day, everyone was in bed hunkered down. I'll never forget that experience and of course never go on another Carnival cruise. There was puke in the hallways and barf bags in the hallways, it was a terrible first cruise experience. I've since been on Royal, Disney, Norwegian, with no issues at all.

The best of those being Disney. On that trip we cruised from Tenerife to Cape Canaveral over the course of 2 weeks. This was also a production, so kind of work/play, but the ship was mostly empty, so it was awesome having the Disney Dream to ourselves.

The stabilizers did a great job keeping the boat steady, I thought anyway. There was a bad storm about 300 miles away, if memory serves, and it had enough impact to somehow shatter 2 of the glass walls on the top deck.

[dreamingat30fps]

I still remember when I was a kid being taken on a cruise and getting super sea sick. They then gave me something for the sea sickness and I remember that turning me into a zombie and all I wanted to do was sleep but they kept dragging me places. Anyways I hated that so much to this day I refuse to go on a cruise.

On a normal boat in calm water (like on the inter-coastal) I'm usually fine. However once we get out to sea and choppy waters forget about it. I recall once on a charter fishing trip for a friends bday I also go super sea sick. For me being inside a cabin definitely makes it worse, I need to see the horizon. I also noticed on the fishing trip when I was actually fishing it also made it worse. I'm guessing when I'm doing stuff I'm also not focused on the horizon.

Anyways a few months ago I went to a funeral where they were putting ashes under water. FML the waters were ROUGH! Like that freaking boat was seesawing side to side like a mofo. Luckily someone else had brought some dramamine and gave me some. Now I don't know how much it helped or not, it was certainly not an enjoyable trip at all and I was basically just trying not to throw up the whole time, but I didn't throw up so... win?

So yeah I just try not going on boats if they are going out to the ocean.

[ezaircon4jc]

When I was in the Navy we had a guy from eastern Washington and he'd never been on a ship before. He spent his first 7 hour watch at the porcelain throne every 20 minutes or so. It was sad and hilarious at the same time! We had a weight tied to a string at the back of the CIC to measure the ship's rolls. We had "look for cookies," "eat cookies" and "squirt cookies" for the various degrees of roll. Didn't help that we had an 85' flat bottom! Green water over the bow was also an adventure!

[UncleWede]

Dramamine just puts you to sleep

I'm pretty good, but every once in a while I still get sick. Two key factors to help ensure getting sick are diesel fumes, and just the right engine vibration. And if I focus on either of those two items when I begin to feel nauseous, it's all over.

First puke normally gets my sea legs back though. Rinse a bit of beer, grab a pole, and off we go!

[RickFLM4]

Dramamine if you can tolerate it without falling asleep. Ginger caplets also work (Google to find when / how much to take as I don’t recall dosages but remember it worked). I haven’t had luck with patches or bands. Also, focus your eyes out on the horizon and try not to watch or think about the motion close to the boat.

[3.0L]

I got sea sick on the one and only cruise I ever went on. Dramamine worked for me.