Seasick II - 27 January 2008
- Published: 31 January 2008 11:49
- Author: Phil Wells
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- Last Updated: 04 February 2008 13:13
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On board the Shackleton
Heading south
Sunny with a little cloud (nice sun bathing weather)
One hour - one lousy hour - from leaving Cape Town and I was in the toilet being sick! We hadn't even hit any rough sea. I went to bed yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 and slept almost solidly until 7 this morning.
Now I am armed with tablets, a sea-sickness patch and travel bands. Today I am feeling a lot better but the ship has slowed down a bit and I think we are running at a normal pace. (On the way out they were testing the full capacity of the engines which was why the ship was moving about a lot more - well that's my excuse to be ill). We have been warned of more serious weather in a day or so.
I'm not sure if the remedies actually work or if they just give you something to take your mind off the sea sickness: tablets make you drowsy, patches give you blurred vision and a dry mouth and travel bands leave grooves in your wrists, but I guess they must be working because I feel almost normal today.
There are some tips that I have been given and some I have quickly picked up which also help:
Tip: stand on deck and focus on the horizon
Experience: don't stand next to the generator exhaust
Tip: take in some sea air
Experience: don't stand on the edge of the deck facing into the wind and wearing loose fitting glasses when the ship hits a big wave
Tip: take some light exercise (I think this means walking around the deck)
Experience: do not try to play badminton in the ship's hold, especially against the crew. You will not only become very ill but lose badly too
Tip: go to bed, darken the cabin, close your eves and drift with the ship
Experience: no problem - and it keeps me out of trouble
There are advantages to sickness. Despite the fried beakfasts and the abundance of food available every day, you can't help loosing weight. The crew call it the Shackleton diet.
Got to go now and collect my BAS kit bag and see David Bailey about the talk on the ship (which I missed yesterday).
