Diary of a Queasy Sailor – Seasickness Edition 🤢
THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS
Picture this, a bright and beautiful sunny day in Cannes, France. The formidable blue sea was awaiting the Nomad Story Crew for a day of sailing and snorkeling on a sweet little monohull we rented with a skipper (there was even a cat on board - the true captain!).
Even though the scene was breathtaking, in my mind, I already felt I was going to be in trouble with the waves I could see in the distance… Oh and hey! Is that anxiety!? What are you doing here?
I was trying not to think about the possibility of feeling seasick as I have on boats in the past, but by doing so I was ramping myself up by attempting to drive away those intrusive thoughts. I was ruminating on the fact that I had already made many mistakes in the 24 hours prior, which is why I was so wary – I had a few glasses of wine with dinner the night before, had coffee that morning, barely ate or hydrated before the trip, was exhausted from walking around in the sweltering heat during two days at the Cannes Yachting Festival… you know, basically everything they tell you NOT to do. I did it all. Even though I was armed with an herbal motion sickness patch – one behind the ear and the other beside my belly button, I didn’t feel well prepared.
The owner of the boat, Fabrice, arrived late and informed us that the outboard motor of his dinghy was broken. We had to paddle to the sailboat. Once aboard, I took a second to pet the cat – because one MUST always take a moment to give attention to the cat – and then sat down, trying to set my gaze upon the horizon to stabilize my vision to avoid nausea.
Oh boy, it was not good you guys. My stomach? IMMEDIATELY wasn’t having it. We weren’t even a few minutes into sailing, and I was hurling the entire contents of my empty stomach into a bucket. I was so dizzy, my vision was spinning like I had just downed six shots of tequila. Although I’m not particularly religious, I seem to have been suddenly overtaken by a need to repeatedly call to the deities – I had clearly lost my mind. That whole part remains somewhat fuzzy 😂
I really tried to hang in there and be a trooper but finally decided I had enough when my limbs started to go numb and I began to shiver uncontrollably. The skipper said he had never seen somebody have such severe seasickness symptoms. I begged to get off and was taken safely back to shore by JM who, I must say, unfortunately had to manually paddle us both, by himself and in choppy waters, to the nearest island. It was then that I vowed that I would eventually overcome this sickness of the seas. I have no choice in the matter; our entire retirement plan is contingent on it:
Exhibit A: Retirement plan – Sell the house and buy the dream boat - XQUISITE Sixty Solar Sail
TESTING THE WATERS
As soon as I got home from that trip, I went to my doctor and asked if she could prescribe some dimenhydrinate aka Gravol/Dramamine (none of that natural ginger stuff) and proceeded to spend the summer testing the waters, literally and figuratively, taking small boat rides here and there. But the ultimate test came in May 2025. A whole 2 weeks on a rented catamaran in Mallorca. This was it, this was what I was preparing for.
ANXIETY, IS THAT YOU?
I had a strategy this time, I had done my research on how to prevent motion sickness and stocked up on seasickness remedies. I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to put it all to the test!
I had the perfect team of remedies lined up to help me combat seasickness.
What could go wrong?
I had no alcohol the night prior to my flight to Spain, where the Nomad Story Crew had chartered a boat. I had a good night’s sleep and made sure I had no coffee as of the morning of our flight. I avoided greasy foods, just as the Internet says and drank plenty of water along the trip. I was even armed to the teeth with preventative measures. I began taking prescription motion sickness pills 24 hours prior (damn that drowsiness hits HARD) and wore two herbal motion sickness patches, one behind the ear and one next to the belly button for good measure.
Welp, I wasn’t even on the boat, and I began to feel nauseous (Anxiety, is that you?). Once we landed and had a meal, I already felt much better.
Lol, yeah - that feeling didn’t last long. The waters were somewhat more troubled than I would have hoped for on my first moments aboard the catamaran. The initial plan was to immediately find a place to go lie down. But no sir, that’s not what I did… oh no, I guess I thought I could sit it out? Laughable. I was already struggling to acclimate to the sudden change in surface stability and definitely wasn’t feeling good. Did I then do the smart thing and go lie down? Haha no, I didn’t do that either. I had the genius idea to go to the front of the boat, mostly to get away from the other guests aboard as I tried to gain control of my state.
It was the worst spot, the shakiest, the front of the boat slamming up and down upon the waters. It wasn’t long before I was queasy and green in the face. The bright side is that this decision helped me to discover that I do in fact enjoy feeding the fishies, as my prior meal was scattered across the surface of the sea.
Good ol’ memories of mistakes past
Finally, somebody came to get me and directed me to a stable spot on the sundeck, closest to the center of the boat as possible, where I proceeded to lie down.
F-YOU SEASICKNESSS!
I should have gone horizontal wayyyyy sooner because I felt almost instant relief. I eventually found my way down to my bed, skipping dinner and heading straight to sleep. The two following days were a bit rough, but every day I felt better and better. Not going to lie, I was shocked to see that I had in fact acclimated to the movement of the boat. F-You seasickness!!
YOU COULD ALSO TRY THIS
During those two days, as I was adjusting to the boat, I tested out two other methods I thought would be interesting (one of which is hilarious) to see if they would have an impact:
Electrode Stimulator Motion Sickness Band
This gadget was giving me major AbTronic vibes (remember that ab muscle stimulator thing that supposedly replaced the need for sit-ups?). When positioned incorrectly or if pressed hard against your wrist, the feeling wasn’t very pleasant. Not painful but also hard to ignore. After wearing it a few times, I have no clue if this thing really worked because when I was feeling nauseous and wore it, I often went to lie down (good ol’ tried and true solution). The reviews on the product are very mixed, so it’s hard to say if it really does stimulate your pressure points or if it’s a placebo effect.
Motion Sickness Glasses
These glasses are ridiculously funny! They are meant to create a stable horizon for your vision. I got them more for sh*ts and giggles than anything else. I did wear them a few times during sailing, but it was while I was at the helm (another seasickness remedy) so it’s hard to say which of the two was helping with the nausea.
DID I BEAT SEASICKNESS?
Not quite. I still got a few waves of nausea here and there (no pun intended) – but I knew what I had to do: find a comfortable surface near the center of the boat and lie down. It’s the only thing that really worked for me. I even managed to enjoy my time aboard as we circumvented the island of Mallorca. Believe it or not, I was even able to read!
As much as I had hoped otherwise, there exists no instant magical solution for me. So far it seems I am one of those people who just has to suck it up and weather it out. It ultimately comes down to individual personal experience and tolerance level. My best recommendation is to try out different solutions and find the right one for you. But when all else fails, try lying down.
On the bright side, from what I have read, very few people are incapable of recovering from seasickness. You read my story - if I can do it, so can you.
Wishing you nausea free travels!
