Liveaboard and Seasickness?

[chloere93]

Hi All

I've been diving for 3 years now and my partner really wants to take me on a liveaboard in egypt- problem is, I'm prone to getting seasick but I've only ever traveled on small boats and RIBs. I've normally been able to manage with sea-sickness tablets but my last experience proved that if the swell is bad enough even the tablets won't hold it back.

This sickness goes away as soon as I get in the water but it's just not a pleasant experience; as much as I love a shore dive, I don't want to be missing out on what sounds like an amazing experience.

My partner has said that a liveaboard wouldn't be as bad because it is a bigger vessel- but I wasn't sure if this is factually correct? So I'd like more clarity around this and perhaps any other sea-sickness remedies, meds, voodoo that can help me! I've been looking at patches, acupressure wrist bands, etc. but I'd rather hear it from someone who has been in my position and found a real miracle cure for them

Much appreciated!

[NWdiver]

Egyptian liveaboards are not capable of handling serious weather. They're built to be comfortable platforms to spend a week on. Comfortable enough to ensure people cough up another £1k for next years trip. A key part of that is the fact they'll seek shelter from any weather.

My last trip was during a relatively windy period in march. A northern trip out of Hurghada is going to spend a lot of time in the shelter of the mainland and the islands on that side. We held off on crossing over to to Sinai side for a few days due to the weather and then made an overnight crossing. It was lumpy but nothing a few seasickness meds wouldn't sort. Apart from that, we weren't sat around in any swell at all.

I would suggest most people will be absolutely fine with just the usual seasickness tablets.

[Divemouse]

I generally take pills for the first day then forget about it - it's nothing like being on a small boat!

[sandie2]

I get seasickness quite badly - even on a car ferry. I couldn't do a dive boat without medication. I've done a few Liveaboards (and one in very rough conditions) and had to take tablets daily but I found I become tolerant of the same one after a few days so if I swapped around between different ones i.e. Boots Travel calm (Hyoscine Hydrobromide) and Stugeron (Cinnarizine) then I was absolutely fine.

[Neilwood]

I was with quite a few people who admitted they were normally prone to seasickness on both my trips to the Red Sea. All of those people started taking meds but by day 2-3 a lot of them had stopped taking them with no adverse effects. I think this might have been a combination of a couple of factors - they had gotten their sea legs (become accustomed to the sway), they were busy enjoying themselves chatting, diving, drinking & they had good food in them (a lot of people seem to find seasickness is worse on an empty stomach). There were a couple of short crossings where the swell increased a bit but on the whole the sea was pretty calm most of the time. Even by day 3/4 with a fair current whipping round Big Brother and the boats moving a fair bit we didn't have anyone going green at that point.

[Darren A]

Given the recent fires and resultant loss of lives on liveaboards I’d stear clear of anything that might make you drowsy/sleep deeper than usual at night. Just a thought.

[frogfone]

I was sick as a dog for the whole week on my first liveaboard. It was an Egyptian Deep South trip with long crossings, big waves and a smelly wet boat. Despite all this I loved the trip, loved the diving and I have been on quite a few liveaboards since. However, I do use the scopolamine patches that you can get on prescription from the GP. One patch lasts 72 hours (although I've had to change it early if it was rough) and I have never been sick since. I have come close if I have had a regular kwells or the patch has been on for a few days but that has usually been in rough seas in the UK rather than on holiday. Saying that, we were crossing the Lombok strait and it was so bad the deck furniture was moving from side to side (with people sitting on it!) and I decided to retire to my bed rather than have dinner. 18 hours that lasted for!

I would say go for it. I am quite possibly the worst sailor in the world but with the patches I cope better than those without. Liveaboard diving is a fantastic experience and although it can be incredibly busy with 4 or 5 dives a day you actually get much more time to yourself as your room is minutes from the dive deck and there are no long boat trips going back and forward to the resort.

Sharon

[David D]

I would recommend Hurricane. I've been on it many times and only rarely seen anyone suffering from sea-sickness.

Steel hull heavy boat, much more stable than wooden hull boats. I think there may be another one or two steel hull boats operating in the Red Sea but not many, and none that I can think to name.

Hurricane does most of its itineraries in the south, but in my experience boats on northern routes are just as prone to conditions if they are wooden hull, e.g crossing from Dunraven [Sinai] to Abu Nuhas [mainland].

[steelemonkey]