motion issues

Open water has long been my nemesis. I get queasy just thinking about it actually. I get motion sick so easily that standing on the dock usually does me in. Curtis has been wanting to go on a cruise for many years and I have always put him off by saying that I would be sick the whole time. He hasn't really believed me.

He has seen me car sick and believes that I get sick in cars and planes. Being carsick has plagued me and many others (sorry Dad) for many years. He has seen me all kinds of other sick as well, but for some reason he was hesitant to believe that the open ocean would do me in.

Before our recent trip to San Diego a good friend suggested that I try a new motion sickness medicine. I was up for anything at that point. I have tried EVERYTHING including putting a penny on your belly button to all sorts of medications with no results other than increased nausea. I have to say that this stuff was AMAZING! The plane ride was awesome. I could even look out the window. I was thrilled.

Since I was having such great results we decided to really put the meds to the test.

We bit the bullet and bought tickets for a whale watching tour. I doubled the meds and hoped for the best. (This ship was out there with us helping to find the whales. Sure glad I wasn't on that one.)

We pulled out of the bay and got a neat tour of lots of things like this submarine in dry-dock, and lots of sea lions.

The grey ship in the middle was used in one of the pirates of the Caribbean movies. They sailed it clear down and through the panama canal in order to get it to the Caribbean. Kind of cool. Had to take a picture of that for Marissa.

This is our ship. I started out the trip in the front of the boat on the top deck. The bay was calm and gorgeous. I was really excited to be doing so well...for a minute. As we pulled out into the ocean the waves really picked up. Things began to get rougher and rougher. I started to feel a little "off", but I was determined to see a whale, or dolphins, or something other than lobster pot lines. Luckily that sweet little grey whale was quick to cooperate. We chased the poor thing down and just after we saw the tail I got sicker than anything I could possibly imagine.

OH MY WORD. Oh my word! I have NEVER felt anything that horrible. I can't even express how different from any other kind of sickness this was.

Luckily I wasn't the only one on the ship that miserable. Half of the ship got sick. There were people crouched in corners and moaning everywhere. After I didn't have anything left, nearly an hour later (sorry, tmi) I was able to get back on the top deck, in the back, and basically try to not move for the rest of the trip. Apparently they followed a couple pods of dolphins and had a great time seeing lots of things. Curtis had a great time.

I did get the sticker that said "I saw a whale" and the first mate said that they needed some that said "I thought I was going to die on this stupid ship". I had to agree. It was the most miserable thing I have ever EVER experienced. The great thing was that as soon as we docked I was fine. Weird. I am sure glad that I wasn't a immigrant crossing the Atlantic from England. I would seriously have died. I at least knew that I only had about three hours to survive not three months.

Needless to say, Curtis now believes that a cruise probably won't be on our list of things to do.