Worried about seasickness - boat tour off northern Maine coast

Hello all. This is not a cruise question, but I felt you all would be great people to ask. I'll be going on a 9-hour lighthouse tour out of Bar Harbor at the end of July, weaving up to see the lights along the northern Maine coast and the very southern bits of Canada. I'm very worried about getting seasick, and I look to you all for advice. I don't usually get seasick. I've been on something like fifteen cruises, plus some long and choppy tender rides (we got caught in a storm coming back to the ship in Belize once!) and several dolphin tours out of the southern US. I've been seasick exactly twice: on a glass-bottom boat tour in the Bahamas...and on a whale-watching trip out of Gloucester, Massachusetts last October. It's this last trip that has me worried; I was ok when we were sailing, but became quite ill and miserable as we bobbed around in the open water watching whales. I don't think trying to take pictures with a zoom lens on my DSLR did me any favors.

So I ask...do you think I should be concerned about my lighthouse tour, and what can I do to prevent seasickness? This boat will be a double-hulled catamaran, which I've heard will help - hopefully. And a friend recommended taking Bonine every twelve hours, starting 24 hours before my trip. What do you all recommend?

Bonine works for some. My DW used the Reliefband. But there is nothing better than to ask your doctor what is appropriate for you, given other maintenance meds you may currently be taking.

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^Exactly - as soon as you start considering drugs, taking the advice of random strangers on the intrawebs is, well, a less-than-optimal choice!!! If you do want some random stranger medical advice though, I'm always a fan of starting with the safest (least side-effects) drug when there's a range that might help any given situation - for seasickness that's usually Meclizine (Bonine/Dramamine Less Drowsy) and you can score it ridiculously cheaply by buying it as an antihistamine rather than a motion-sickness med - it's literally identical in active ingredients and dosage, Meclizine HCl 25mg per pill, so pick up a packet of Target own-brand antihistamines (about $5 for 24, instead of double that for half the bonine tablets!) Recommended adult dose for anti-nausea properties is 25-50mg, 1 or 2 pills, just the same as for allergies.

'12 hours' is utter nonsense since the half-life of Meclizine is only 6 hours - you'll only have a quarter of it left in your system after 12 hours, too little to actually achieve any relief. It's effective in 1 hour for most people, which means you can safely avoid taking it until right before you board (i.e. no need to worry if you're driving to the boat tour start point). Pop a couple of pills at check-in and by the time you're actually leaving the harbour it should be working for you. With a 9 hour trip you'll be due to pop another half-way in to keep it fully-functional (official recco is repeat dosage every 4-6 hours, and not to take more than 6 pills total in a 24hr period).

My wife also swears by the bands (hers are 'seaband' branded but I imagine just the same idea as any other). Given that I imagine a 9 hour tour will have you floating around each lighthouse to take pics rather than just powering past, I would anticipate a similar reaction to your whalewatch. Cats are more stable than single-hulls which will help, and staring at lighthouses on the coastline may also mean you're a bit less prone to nausea than trying to focus on relatively close whales in the water for photo-taking. Still, if you got sick last time I'd be inclined to come prepared this time - and if you do take my advice, you could even wait until you see how it feels on the water before taking a pill (you'll only feel bad for an hour before it kicks in, so if you're not certain you'll need it - or want to see if the bands are good enough for you before taking anything - this might be tolerable).

Some great points, martincath! Thank you for the thorough response!