Well, I have a new rating as Advanced Open Water Diver - which increases my maximum depth limit to 30 metres/100 feet.
Doing the course brought up a small concern I have about the upcoming travels. We were on a boat and did 2 dives on Sunday, one at North Head (the entrance to Sydney Harbour from the ocean) and one about 2km off Manly Beach in the ocean. I was mildly seasick while the boat was not in motion due to the large surge. Now, I wasn't physically ill but my stomach was quite upset and while changing over my tanks I was on the edge of losing it.
Now, this may also be due to the fact that I had only had a piece of banana bread to eat that day, which was most likely making my stomach hurt more out of hunger than seasickness. I was on a dive boat at North Head last month - and while my stomach hurt I was able to eat a burger on the boat without becoming sick - even though my stomach hurt even then.
So I'm a bit concerned about spending 7 days on a boat in the ocean. Now, the boat we were on was only for about 12 people, about 20 feet long, if that. Spoilsport (the Mike Ball vessel) is 100 ft. long, with a double hull and is 3 floors tall. That and the fact that the great barrier reef probably shelters boats from the major surge out in open ocean is convincing me that it is not nearly going to be as bad as things were on the weekend.
That, and whenever I get nervous about getting on board I read this, and all of a sudden I tell myself that no matter what I'm going to suck it up and just do it. Not to mention seeing pictures of just how big Spoilsport is makes me feel better as well. Compared to this, which is the vessel we were on over the weekend.
P.S. I've already gone out and stocked up on the Australian version of Gravol. And I'm considering getting some ginger pills to go with it. (Ginger is the only non-pharmaceutical remedy that worked to cure motion sickness on Mythbusters)
2 comments:
The bigger boat will certainly be better for you. I would recommend talking to a pharmacist and asking them what they would recommend for sea sickness. I know on larger cruises I have seen people wearing a small patch just behind their ear, I'm sure it is for this but I don't know what it is.
You might even call and ask the tour to see what they recommend. Might as well prepare for it before it starts.
Congratulations on your current diving levels.
Found something for you. The little patches I was thinking of. Apparently Carol (Barb's sister) uses these, yes even vetran sailors get sea sick. This is from Webmd under the title sea sick sailor.
When Dramamine or Bonine do not work, he does use Transderm-Scop - little scopolamine patches that go behind your ears. I suspect Transderm will be all that he will need to hold down his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If that doesn't do the trick, I told him about promethazine (Phenergan). This prescription medication is very effective in settling the seasick stomach, but at a price. Phenergan can make you very sleepy. Most people would rather be sleeping than feeding the fish over the railing. Assuming the seasick person can hold down the pills, this will likely solve the profound nausea caused by the motion of the ocean. For those unfortunate vomiters that cannot even hold down the medicine, promethazine is available as a rectal suppository. My brother did not want them.
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