Antarctica: Sea sickness?
 

Im considering a trip to antarctica together with my stepfather. We probably would be going with the Vavilov (http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/our-...sergey-vavilov).
My main concern is the chance of sea sickness. Im having motion sickness in very small planes (4-12 seaters).
Im mainly wondering whether it is just during the 2 days in the Drake Passage that you are likely to become sick, or if its during the whole trip?
If its during the whole trip, is it something you get used/adjusted to after a couple of days?
And lastly; are there any good medicines out there that really help?

I would hate to spend such much money on a trip I might not enjoy cause im constantly sick ;) looking forward to hear your insights and experiences!

After years of cruising and in some of the worst seas the best medication I have found and highly recommend is Bonine. The generic is meclizine and you can buy it in any drug store. I got mine at Costco (giant economy size) and fellow passengers were coming to me when their patches, bracelets etc didn't work. It doesn't make you sleepy which is a bonus!! I would take one in the morning if it is going to be rough - don't wait until you are seasick. It is perfectly safe to take and isn't as effective if you take it once you are sick. We did the Antarctic trip a few years ago. We actually had a fairly smooth crossing in Drake Passage but had terrible seas on the east side of S.A. As a matter of fact we missed three ports due to rough seas. The water once we were in Antarctica were fine. You are sailing between the islands etc and it was very protected. As I said on another post the wind is much worse than the cold so be sure you take a coat that is windproof. Enjoy your trip!

I have a serious motion sickness issue, and the only thing that works for me is the patch. And, if it's rough enough, I'll still get sick for maybe the day, but I'll feel fine most of the time.,..

Conditions can vary a lot, but the main worries are the open crossings (esp. the Drake).

I get seasick on smaller ships. On my trip (Akademik Ioffe, similar size, I think), I was not particularly happy from Ushuaia to the Falklands, definitely seasick from the Falklands to South Georgia, and totally fine everywhere else (and also totally fine AT the Falklands and South Georgia -- it's just the crossings). I totally lucked out on the Drake coming back -- it was like a lake.

At the landings, and all around the Antarctic Peninsula, the ships are sailing to interesting places, which are therefore near land and generally sheltered. If you don't get seasick on a lake boat, and barring any storms or anything, you should have a wonderful time.

That said, if you want to talk yourself out of this, one of the luxury ships (Clelia II) ran into trouble a couple days ago in very rough seas on in the Drake Passage, and passenger video from the National Geographic Explorer, which came to assist, is floating around the web and news sites. Google it if you want to be scared. :-O

Hehe thx for pointing out that video to me ... Ugh!!
Im going to try out some medecines to see what works best ;)

Just got back from Antarctic Explorer, take the medications and you will have a great experience. On our ship the onboard doctor did a good job preparing passage for possible rough seas and offered free medication.

There were patches, pills, straps and maybe a few other remedies used, all with different effects. We did have about a day and a half of rough seas crossing the Drake Passage.

We were told that on one cruise there were so many patches, one passenger asked a staff member, What religion do all those people belong to?

lol DMBTraveler... thx for sharing your experience, Im now off to go read your trip report :)

I was on the Nat Geo Explorer which helped the Clelia II out. We had one night and day of the really bad weather, 45-50 knot winds and 30 foot seas. Our trip down from Ushuaia was fine, not too rough. On our trip, there was always meclizine available at reception. I took dramamine, less drowsy, which was meclizine and it worked for me. I did see a lot of patches and a few people had bad reactions to them (very thirsty and sleepy) and took them off. If you decide to use the patch I would make a trial run before you go to make sure that it will be OK for you.

Julie

thx Julie... must have been some experience to be on the NatGeoExplorer! Did you post your story already as a report here? curious to here more of your story :)

Oh, I realized that the Vavilov is the sister ship of the Ioffe, which was what I was on. These are relatively stable ships (for their size) because they have this dynamic ballast system that moves a huge volume of water from one side of the ship to the other to limit roll to 10 degrees (iirc). You'd feel the ship roll to the side, and then just sort of hang there at some angle for awhile, before rolling the other way. When the seas were rough, the ship would still pitch and yaw, though, and as mentioned earlier, I did get somewhat seasick at times.

I brought candied ginger, but that didn't work very well for me. When I got sufficiently uncomfortable, I took a meclizine tablet, which made me drowsy, but I'd just sleep until we got to the next destination (or the seas calmed down), and it'd be some fantastic, exciting place, and all would be well. I also had a couple scopolamine patches as backup, but ended up not using them. YMMV.

sounds good!
we are most likely changing our plans to go to Spitsberg. The advantage there is that you don't need any days at sea 'just' traveling, you fly directly into the right place. (and more animals so it seems)
So also less (no?) sea sickness to deal with :)

www.transdermscop.com for me journey can get rough

might check some www.cruisecritic.com reviews to be sure

you are up for it including some videos on the recent

Travel Dynamics vessel that was damaged cruising there.

If seasickness prone a more sedate alternative might be wise.

travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2010/12/antarctica-clelia-ii-cruise-ship-wave-damage

Nikao, please let us all know how it goes! I've heard great things about Spitsberg. No penguins, though. :-)

but you get polar bears instead :)