Is "Getting Your Sea Legs" a Myth for Expeditions to Antarctica?

I'm not a good traveller on most forms of transport. I have coped well with force 10 conditions onboards an 80,000 tonne ship and oddly enough, I have no problems with small boats or ribs that bounce along, hitting the wave tops, but on a 17,000 tonne ship, gently rolling between the Canaries and Madeira, I spent most of my time inspecting the inside of the loo.... I was so miserable I couldn't even sleep.

So, that brings me round to expedition cruises to Antarctica and in particular, crossing the Drake Passage. We will almost certainly travel with Hurtigruten and we will endeavour to get a cabin low down and amidships, but, is there ever a time when the motion no longer bothers you? In other words, do you ever get your "sea legs".

I've seen reccommendations for various medications, different ones available in different countries, and I know to take ginger....it's always helped me, but are any preventative measures better than others (pills or patches?) and are the side effects too bad to contemplate?

Even if initial medication is necessary, can I ever hope to become accustomed to the ship's movement and enjoy the whole experience without pill-popping the whole trip?

I know there's a few seasoned polar travellers on this forum, so I'm hoping for good advice from those of you who still need to control motion sickness and those of you who used to need medication and no longer do. Also, is medication available on-board ship or do we buy it at home?

I took the Nat Geo Explorer to Antarctica. Going to Antarctica we had a very smooth crossing of the Drake and I didn't have to take any sea sick meds. On our way back we had 30 foot seas and 50 knot winds. I did take some meclizine then. I had brought my own but they did have packets in a basket by the reception desk. They also had candied ginger out in a little basket. The one thing they did do was make me a little tired so I would have problems staying awake during the afternoon talks.

Once in the Peninsula the water was very calm and I didn't need any meds. Some folks took the meds the entire trip and didn't seem bothered by it. Usually you only take one pill a day in the morning.

Julie

I'm not a good traveller on most forms of transport. I have coped well with force 10 conditions onboards an 80,000 tonne ship and oddly enough, I have no problems with small boats or ribs that bounce along, hitting the wave tops, but on a 17,000 tonne ship, gently rolling between the Canaries and Madeira, I spent most of my time inspecting the inside of the loo.... I was so miserable I couldn't even sleep.

So, that brings me round to expedition cruises to Antarctica and in particular, crossing the Drake Passage. We will almost certainly travel with Hurtigruten and we will endeavour to get a cabin low down and amidships, but, is there ever a time when the motion no longer bothers you? In other words, do you ever get your "sea legs".

I've seen reccommendations for various medications, different ones available in different countries, and I know to take ginger....it's always helped me, but are any preventative measures better than others (pills or patches?) and are the side effects too bad to contemplate?

Even if initial medication is necessary, can I ever hope to become accustomed to the ship's movement and enjoy the whole experience without pill-popping the whole trip?

I know there's a few seasoned polar travellers on this forum, so I'm hoping for good advice from those of you who still need to control motion sickness and those of you who used to need medication and no longer do. Also, is medication available on-board ship or do we buy it at home?

Border

Do you ever get your sea legs? Well you might get to walking better, but the semicircular canals in your ear will probably act the same. You don't have to think that you will get sea sick every time. There are those people who have never been seasick and then one day they do. Same for air sickness. Of course the motion of the ocean is also a factor depending on the way the ship takes the swells and how much rolling is controlled.

Transderm scope is the behind the ear patch. (three day dose at one time) I don't like to take prophylactic medication and have to be worried about the side effects. Scopace (requires a Rx) is the same medicine as Transderm Scope in pill form, so if you think you need some take one and go to bed. All the meds, merazine, meclixine, Dramamine make you drowsy, so go to sleep and wake up hopefully with no more seasickness. Change your position in bed when lying down if you don't feel better just to see which is the best, lay across the bed or lengthwise.

Ginger--if they say the seas are going to be rough, start using that before you get sick. That is the only prophylactic med I would use. Try the arm bands also --no side effects.

Drake rake or Drake Lake is always a tossup.

I don't believe in taking any medications as a preventive because if you get sick, sometimes you don't know if the medicine is making you sick or the ship is.

When I was a kid we traveled for 2 weeks on a troop transport ship from Seattle to Yokohama. We were all sick as dogs for several days. Been on many cruises since including really rough seas around S.A. and never got sick again. Thought that early trip had cured me. Ha!

It struck again Cabo to San Francisco. We had a cabin at the aft of the ship so maybe that was it. I now carry Bonine and ginger candy, but haven't had to use it yet. Just be prepared, you never know.

Border you dont mention which ship you are going on but Quark has a doctor aboard all their ships and they have an endless supply of phenergan injections available.

I am blessed with perfect sea legs (shame they dont match my real legs;)) so I have never suffered from any kind of motion sickness.

My uncle was told when he joined the navy that there are only two kinds of people - seasick kinds and non seasick kinds - and which ever you are - you will be for life.

The benefit of that I guess is that if you have previously suffered sea sickness then you at least already know what remedies you have tried and tested and what works for you.

From my experience on ships on both sides of Antarctica - the half of the passengers who suffered sea sickness - did so way out in the open seas but once we got to the ice edge they were fine for the rest of the trip until we hit the open seas again.

On my most recent trip I met a food scientist who had taken part in several experiments that were showing an interesting correlation between people with high blood pressure and suffering more sea sickness that people with normal or low BP.

She also recommended that salty foods be consumed during the worst of it. People have always recommended plain toast or dry crackers etc but she got everyone eating potato chips and pretzels and they were actually keeping them down.

I'm not a good traveller on most forms of transport. I have coped well with force 10 conditions onboards an 80,000 tonne ship and oddly enough, I have no problems with small boats or ribs that bounce along, hitting the wave tops, but on a 17,000 tonne ship, gently rolling between the Canaries and Madeira, I spent most of my time inspecting the inside of the loo.... I was so miserable I couldn't even sleep.

So, that brings me round to expedition cruises to Antarctica and in particular, crossing the Drake Passage. We will almost certainly travel with Hurtigruten and we will endeavour to get a cabin low down and amidships, but, is there ever a time when the motion no longer bothers you? In other words, do you ever get your "sea legs".

I've seen reccommendations for various medications, different ones available in different countries, and I know to take ginger....it's always helped me, but are any preventative measures better than others (pills or patches?) and are the side effects too bad to contemplate?

Even if initial medication is necessary, can I ever hope to become accustomed to the ship's movement and enjoy the whole experience without pill-popping the whole trip?

I know there's a few seasoned polar travellers on this forum, so I'm hoping for good advice from those of you who still need to control motion sickness and those of you who used to need medication and no longer do. Also, is medication available on-board ship or do we buy it at home?

You say Hurtigruten, which would be the Fram. We were on the Fram in 2010 and per the Captain, we had the 2d worse crossing of that season. Yes the first day and night we were in our cabins, using the ear patches, and we did not get sick. We were in an aft balcony cabin so we experienced as much rock and roll as anywhere. The patches worked well for us. Crossing the Drake is not a multi-day event, usually about 1.5 days, once across the passage it is smooth as silk. We did get our sea legs on the 2d day and it was easier to navigate around the decks once we got use to the rolling. The Fram has a stabilizer system which I believe helped a lot to reduce the roll.

I would not worry about the sea leg thing, just bring whatever remedy works for you to alleviate sea sickness. The crossing is not that many hours and half of it is at night so you can sleep away. If using patches I would recommend putting them on just when you board the flight in Buenos Aires, just in case you hit rough water as we did once we cleared the channel.

Please go as you won't be disappointed.

Rc

Thanks everybody for your replies, it's all useful information for me. A common theme seems to be "bring whatever works best for me". Well, I don't yet know what works best because after that miserable Canaries to Madeira trip, we've only ever sailed on bigger ships, the smallest being Boudicca and I wasn't affected by anything. I did take ginger during the first 3 days of our cruise to Greenland and Iceland on Aurora, but despite the force 10 conditions on day 8 out of 18 I never felt ill, but I did notice the supplies of paper bags at stairways were well used by other passengers. The only preventative medication I've managed to find so far in the UK, is Stugeron 15, which I took to the Arctic and never used.

Dpro - we will be sailing on the Fram and your comments have answered a few questions.....but I have heard of passengers being thrown from their bunks and hit by flying furniture on Antarctic trips. As you say, it'll be worth it. Even a few days of misery would be a small price to pay for the trip of a lifetime.

Thanks everybody for your replies, it's all useful information for me. A common theme seems to be "bring whatever works best for me". Well, I don't yet know what works best because after that miserable Canaries to Madeira trip, we've only ever sailed on bigger ships, the smallest being Boudicca and I wasn't affected by anything. I did take ginger during the first 3 days of our cruise to Greenland and Iceland on Aurora, but despite the force 10 conditions on day 8 out of 18 I never felt ill, but I did notice the supplies of paper bags at stairways were well used by other passengers. The only preventative medication I've managed to find so far in the UK, is Stugeron 15, which I took to the Arctic and never used.

Dpro - we will be sailing on the Fram and your comments have answered a few questions.....but I have heard of passengers being thrown from their bunks and hit by flying furniture on Antarctic trips. As you say, it'll be worth it. Even a few days of misery would be a small price to pay for the trip of a lifetime.

I am in the middle of my 4th trip to Antarctica and South Georgia, have travelled on 3 different ships, and I ALWAYS take a sea-sickness tablet every night as a preventative measure. It is not worth the risk (in my view) of taking the chance that I won't be sea sick. Plenty of people were sick yesterday in 7 metre swells on a ship with stabilisers.

The most effective medication I've found is a pharmacist only medicine (in Australia at least) called Avomine, which is 25mg of promethazine theoclate. It may have a different brand name in the UK.

Sea sickness meds are like altitude medication - I always figure it is best to take the preventative course rather than lose a day or two being ill. Ultimately it's up to you to decide what you're comfortable with, but I'm off to take my seasickness tablet now!

Cheers

Sorry I was reading tiny print on my iphone so I missed the mention of the Hurtigruten !!

Chris which ship are you on at the moment ? Even tho I only just got back really - I want to be out there again !

Sorry I was reading tiny print on my iphone so I missed the mention of the Hurtigruten !!

 

Chris which ship are you on at the moment ? Even tho I only just got back really - I want to be out there again !

I'm on the National Geographic Explorer, en route from Ushuaia to Cape Town via the Falklands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cuhna, Inaccessible Island and Nightingale Island.

We have just left St Andrew's Bay with katabatic winds, snow and a British warship on patrol!

Cheers

Thanks everybody for your replies, it's all useful information for me. A common theme seems to be "bring whatever works best for me". Well, I don't yet know what works best because after that miserable Canaries to Madeira trip, we've only ever sailed on bigger ships, the smallest being Boudicca and I wasn't affected by anything. I did take ginger during the first 3 days of our cruise to Greenland and Iceland on Aurora, but despite the force 10 conditions on day 8 out of 18 I never felt ill, but I did notice the supplies of paper bags at stairways were well used by other passengers. The only preventative medication I've managed to find so far in the UK, is Stugeron 15, which I took to the Arctic and never used.

Dpro - we will be sailing on the Fram and your comments have answered a few questions.....but I have heard of passengers being thrown from their bunks and hit by flying furniture on Antarctic trips. As you say, it'll be worth it. Even a few days of misery would be a small price to pay for the trip of a lifetime.

We had severe weather around Point Wild, hurricane force winds, a few people were tossed out of chairs, beds, etc. We brought seabands, the ear patches and the "non-drowsy" (yeah, right) tablet. The patches worked great for us, and did not knock us out. Only side affect was a bit of itching where the patch was. Just be prepared, again, unless you are doing the longer route from Usuhaia to Buenos Aires, you should be fine once across the Drake. If you hear an announcement as we did before Point Wild to take your seasick medicine, do so by all means, as the ship was good at warning us of upcoming weather. I am curious to what itinerary you are doing?

Rc

We had severe weather around Point Wild, hurricane force winds, a few people were tossed out of chairs, beds, etc. We brought seabands, the ear patches and the "non-drowsy" (yeah, right) tablet. The patches worked great for us, and did not knock us out. Only side affect was a bit of itching where the patch was. Just be prepared, again, unless you are doing the longer route from Usuhaia to Buenos Aires, you should be fine once across the Drake. If you hear an announcement as we did before Point Wild to take your seasick medicine, do so by all means, as the ship was good at warning us of upcoming weather. I am curious to what itinerary you are doing?

 

Rc

Thanks for the reply - useful.

It's 2 or 3 years off yet & the itinerary will depend on a few factors, all cost-related. The worst-case scenario will be the Classic Antarctica trip and our first choice will be the Antarctic Circle one. The Weddell Sea one looks good also.

I've been going through the Fram blogs for the last few years and drawing (as near as possible) and saving their routes onto Google Earth. It's been a very useful (and time-consuming) exercise, as you get a very good idea of all the regular places visited. What surprised me most, was how much time the Weddell Sea expedition actually spent down the West side of the peninsular, reaching as far south as Peterman Island. I had previously discounted that one as I didn't see that the Weddell sea alone had enough of interest to be worth the cost.

Something else that struck me was that if someone takes ill or is injured, a day or two can be lost through evacuating the casualty to a suitable place for air evacuation.

I'm not a regular on here, but am on Tripadvisor, if you want to contact me.

I was on Fram this time last year, and we had a hurricane (Force 12) between Falklands and South America. You'll find it in the blog.

Yes - one person was hurt (damaged shoulder) when he fell against a railing, but that could have happened at any time, and some people have been hurt walking in South Georgia (I believed one woman tragically died this year).

So, I wouldn't worry too much about furniture hitting you until you actually are in bad weather.

And the Fram is VERY stable. It has little stabilisers, like penguin wings which prevent too much roll (although the hurricane tested it!). As the captain said, "This is your Captain speaking. We have a hurricane. If you don't like it, stay in your cabin. If you leave you cabin, hold on. This is a very safe ship. Have a nice day!" True!

The next day we had a BBQ on deck near the River Plate, and you would never have known anything had happened.

Lastly, I have never been seasick, thankfully, and that storm was not the worse I've been in - the Cook Strait was much worse but only lasted 2 hours. But I suggested to a number of people on the Fram that lying in your cabin waiting for the next wave was possibly not the best strategy to combat seasickness. Move around, watch the albatrosses, talk to people...

I'm not a regular on here, but am on Tripadvisor, if you want to contact me.

 

I was on Fram this time last year, and we had a hurricane (Force 12) between Falklands and South America. You'll find it in the blog.

 

Yes - one person was hurt (damaged shoulder) when he fell against a railing, but that could have happened at any time, and some people have been hurt walking in South Georgia (I believed one woman tragically died this year).

 

So, I wouldn't worry too much about furniture hitting you until you actually are in bad weather.

 

And the Fram is VERY stable. It has little stabilisers, like penguin wings which prevent too much roll (although the hurricane tested it!). As the captain said, "This is your Captain speaking. We have a hurricane. If you don't like it, stay in your cabin. If you leave you cabin, hold on. This is a very safe ship. Have a nice day!" True!

 

The next day we had a BBQ on deck near the River Plate, and you would never have known anything had happened.

 

Lastly, I have never been seasick, thankfully, and that storm was not the worse I've been in - the Cook Strait was much worse but only lasted 2 hours. But I suggested to a number of people on the Fram that lying in your cabin waiting for the next wave was possibly not the best strategy to combat seasickness. Move around, watch the albatrosses, talk to people...

Thanks for the reply, I'll look up your blog - any information will help us prepare properly.

I meant the MVFRAM blog.

Just saying, you might be fine, with no bad weather or furniture attacking you, so not really worth worrying 2 years in advance!

 

Something else that struck me was that if someone takes ill or is injured, a day or two can be lost through evacuating the casualty to a suitable place for air evacuation.

Ahh no - the whole trip can be lost! Air evac is very very rare - generally the ship is made to turn back to port and by the time that happens its not cost effective to return back to the itinerary so everyones trip is ended.

Many expedition leaders will give a severe lecture to those who dont feel the need to obey the golden rules such as "one hand on the ship", "no flip flops / thongs" etc etc because of the very fact that its not just their trip that gets ruined - its everyones.

When they say the magic words "drake proof yourself and your cabin in the next 5 minutes" they mean it. When they say "the decks are closed" they mean it. When they say "everyone is bannished to cabins for the next 3 hours" they mean it!

When I looked out my porthole to see a man sliding down the side deck towards the back in 5 feet of ocean because he ignored the "decks closed" warning - I admit that part of me was tempted to just remain watching to see if he got washed overboard for stupidity - before I finally hit the emergency button !

Deaths are different as you just get popped into the cold storage. My doctor pal averages a death per year on these voyages - predominantly from natural causes, only accidental one that he mentioned was from a bad fall. Broken bones are far more common and if its not life threatening you will be bundled up in your cabin while the trip continues.

When I was boarding in Dec they were bringing a man off who had broken his hip in two places. Luckily he did it the night before the end of a 30 day voyage so he and everyone else got to finish their trip! But his injury was caused by ignoring the golden rules.

In the Drake and Southern Ocean you cannot underestimate the danger of the seas and thats why the golden rules exist. :)

I'm on the National Geographic Explorer, en route from Ushuaia to Cape Town via the Falklands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cuhna, Inaccessible Island and Nightingale Island.

 

We have just left St Andrew's Bay with katabatic winds, snow and a British warship on patrol!

 

Cheers

Looking forward to your reports upon your return home !!!

Looking forward to your reports upon your return home !!!

Blogging as I go....

http://www.travelimages.com.au

Loved reading your blog and seeing your photos, parischris. Hope the rest of your crossing days are smooth sailing.

Blogging as I go....

 

http://www.travelimages.com.au

Nice - I better settle in for a read!

Blogging as I go....

 

http://www.travelimages.com.au

WOW! Those were great pictures. One will always remember their trip to Antarctica.

I would not wear my autodimming glasses again--got too dark.

It's 2 or 3 years off yet & the itinerary will depend on a few factors, all cost-related. The worst-case scenario will be the Classic Antarctica trip and our first choice will be the Antarctic Circle one. The Weddell Sea one looks good also.

Having done the 'In the Realms of the Great Explorers' this year, we're now booked for the Polar Circle Quest' in 2014.

If you're thinking of booking then do it sooner rather than later. Not only does the ship get booked up quickly, but Hurtigruten have now introduced dynamic pricing: as the number of available cabins goes down, the price goes up. We received their email last week (sent at 06:00) and by 09:30 the lowest prices had gone and they were using the next level up. We were not happy and not impressed with Hurtigruten. Just how many places did they have available at the full 20% off?

Something else that struck me was that if someone takes ill or is injured, a day or two can be lost through evacuating the casualty to a suitable place for air evacuation.

Someone was taken ill on our trip earlier this year and we had to sail overnight and all morning to reach Frei Station and the airstrip there. It cost us a couple of landings, though we did get to see Frei and Bellingshausen (not much by way of compensation!). The usual rule is that the patient waits on the ship until the flight arrives. This has meant a three day wait in the past as the flight will not leave Chile until the weather at both ends, for landings and take-offs, is satisfactory. In those circumstances the ship does mini-trips to near-by locations so not good in terms of seeing Antarctica.

It follows from this that no-one should imagine that they are just a couple of hours away from medical help in an out-and-out emergency that the ship's doctor and facilities are unable to deal with. That said, we're going again...

I find that taking anti-nausea meds for a few days before I ever get on a ship almost always helps - probably because a dose is in my body at all times.

I saw "almost always" because I was violently ill for about 4 hours crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica. Coming back, I was fine as the seas were much smoother.