Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Though a lot of folks may not be so familiar with the term “mal de mer,” there is surely an endless supply of those who have come to know its effects. Heaving, puking, yacking, blowing grits, feeding the fish, chucking chunks, relieving your breakfast, motion sickness - whatever name you choose, it’s seasickness plain and simple, and without a doubt, the one thing that keeps more folks off the ocean than anything else.
For the time being, there is only a hodgepodge of remedies for this ailment and they work for some but not for others. No doubt that the scopolamine patch is probably effective for more people than anything else, with a drawback that you need a prescription to get it, so grabbing a pack off the tackle shop counter for a last minute trip isn’t an option. Dramamine has been around a long time, requires no prescription and is available everywhere. The downside of Dramamine is that you really need to start taking it the night before. It also tends to make you tired, and it doesn’t work for everyone. Ginger is known as a natural cure for nausea and there are claims that it will even work after the fact and bring people out of their sickness. I keep ginger on the boat, but I can’t seem to get sick people to eat enough of the spicy stuff to do them any good!
I’m pretty sure that most captains will agree that aside from someone who is just prone to getting sick in the first place, the number-one reason why most people get sick on a boat is because they had too much alcohol to drink the night before. Face it, if you wake up with a hangover, your system is already compromised, so getting on a boat in that condition and then rocking and rolling all day under a hot summer sun is a recipe for disaster. Yea, I know that laying off the booze for one night might be a lot to ask of some people, but folks will just have to make the decision to either party it up tonight or have a great time on the water tomorrow. Doing both is rarely an option.
It also helps to get a good night’s rest prior to going offshore so that the mind is alert to see and enjoy the day and the body is ready to take on whatever fishing opportunities come along. The hum of the engines and the rocking of the boat can be enough to lull anyone to sleep, particularly if they arose to an early morning alarm clock. If someone is so dead-dog tired that they do nothing but sleep, they might as well be sick because they’re going to miss a lot of what there is to see and do on the boat that day as well as being more prone to actually becoming sick.
A lot of folks don’t want to admit that they’re sick, and if they do it’s often blamed on the whatever they had for breakfast. The “greasy bacon and eggs” always seem to get blamed, but I tell you, I’ve yet to run into anyone who ate such a meal and then spent the entire day on land, hugging the commode. “No, I’m not seasick, it was that darn eggomuffin”!
Folks have different thoughts about what to eat or not to eat prior to and during their fishing trip. Some go on the premise that the less they have in their stomach the less they’ll have to toss over the side later, while others suggest that a full stomach at least provides some assurance that they won’t have to worry about enduring the often painful “dry-heaves.” I usually suggest that folks just eat whatever is a relatively normal breakfast for them without going overboard to where they are stuffed to the gills. Even on land, if I don’t have a little something my stomach it’s going to be grumbling all morning until I feed it, and a happy stomach is less likely to retaliate. Snacking throughout the day is better than going without and the best foods are probably those that aren’t overly spicy or acidic.
Some folks feel the need to hide their queasiness from fellow crewmembers as if there is some kind of shame associated with it. But hey – seasickness is something that sooner or later catches up to almost everyone who puts enough time on the water. Sure, there are probably a few old-timers who can honestly say that they’ve never been sick, but they’re few and far between, and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m not one of them! Those who are quick to say that they’ve never been sick probably haven’t been out on the water enough, or they’re simply not telling the truth.
Anyone who plans to head out on a deep-sea fishing trip also needs to know that in most cases when someone gets sick there’s not going to be a special run back to port to drop them off. A sick person is just going to have be tough and endure the nausea and all that comes with it, and get through the day as best they can because unless their fishing partners are also sick, or unusually sympathetic, they aren’t going to cut their day short because someone is sick.
While being seasick is a miserable experience for the person who is stricken with it, it’s also not much fun for the rest of the crew. It’s kind of beat to have someone you were counting on to help out with onboard activities be spending the day either laying around or feeding the fishes. So, if only to be fair to their fellow crewmembers, those planning to spend a day offshore should take whatever medications they can that might help keep their stomachs straight and avoid practices the night before that could enhance the chances of getting sick.
So what should someone do when the inevitable happens and they actually become seasick?
The standard answer on most boats is to stay outside in the fresh air, avoid going into the cabin and definitely stay out of the head. All yacking should be done over the side of the boat and not in the head. These instructions are for both the benefit of the sick person who will probably find that enclosed spaces inside the cabin and head will only make them sicker, and for the benefit of the crewmembers who don’t want to have to worry about someone puking in their cabin or all over the back of the toilet – yuck!
While seasickness itself might not pose a serious health concern, a side effect from constant vomiting can be “dehydration”, which can lead to real problems for individuals if it goes on for too long. We had a sick girl on the boat last year that we didn’t realize was becoming dehydrated until she complained that her legs became numb. With numbness being a symptom of dehydration, we knew that we had to get some fluids into her fast. Friends and crew members should be sure to encourage a seasick person to drink as much water (not beer or sodas) as they can to help keep fluids in their system.
Someday someone is going to come up with a surefire cure for seasickness that works for all people, all the time and that person is going to end up being a bazillionare! But for now, everyone who heads out to sea is just going to have to do their best with what they’ve got – either a strong stomach, a patch behind their ear or a big roll of paper towels!
Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and Captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.