Seasickness happens because your brain is receiving conflicting information from different parts of your body. Your inner ear senses the movement of the boat. Your eyes might see the relatively stable inside of the boat. Your muscles and joints are also sending information about your body’s position.
When these signals don’t agree, your brain can essentially go:
“Something is VERY wrong here.”
The result can be nausea, dizziness, sweating, headache, fatigue and sometimes vomiting. And unfortunately, being a diver doesn’t give you immunity.
Before You Get on the Boat
The best time to deal with seasickness is before you feel sick.
🍌 Eat — but keep it light
Going out on an empty stomach isn’t necessarily a great idea, but neither is eating a massive breakfast five minutes before departure.
Try something easy to digest, such as:
- Toast
- Oatmeal
- Bananas or other fruit
- Crackers
- A light breakfast with some carbohydrates
If you know that certain foods make your stomach unhappy, don’t experiment on a dive day.
Very greasy, heavy or spicy meals may be worth avoiding before a rough boat ride.
💧 Stay hydrated
Dehydration can make you feel tired, dizzy and generally worse, so start the day hydrated. Drink water normally throughout the morning rather than suddenly drinking a huge amount just before boarding.
And if you’re already feeling nauseous, small sips can be easier than drinking a lot at once.
😴 Get enough sleep
A good night’s sleep won’t magically prevent seasickness, but being exhausted can make a long, bumpy boat ride much harder to tolerate. If you’re heading out for a full day of diving, getting enough rest is part of preparing for the dive — not just the boat ride.
What About Seasickness Medication?
For people who regularly get motion sickness, medication can be an option. The important thing is that many motion-sickness medications work best when taken before you start feeling sick rather than once you’re already nauseous.
However, this is particularly important for scuba divers:
Some seasickness medications can cause drowsiness, blurred vision or other side effects.
Those effects matter when you’re responsible for diving safely, monitoring your equipment and responding to problems underwater. Always read the medication instructions and speak with a doctor or pharmacist about whether a particular medication is appropriate for you and your diving plans.
And don’t try a new medication for the first time right before a big dive trip.
Choose Your Spot on the Boat Carefully
Not all parts of the boat move equally. As a general rule, the middle of the boat tends to experience less movement than the bow or stern.
If your boat has an outdoor area, being somewhere with fresh air and a good view of the horizon can also help.
This is one of the simplest tricks to try. Looking at the horizon gives your eyes a stable visual reference that can help reduce the mismatch between what your eyes see and what your inner ear feels.
So instead of staring at the floor, your phone or your camera: Look up. Find the horizon.
Your stomach might thank you.
What Should You do When You First Feel Sick?
The moment you notice symptoms such as:
- Feeling warm
- Sweating
- Increased saliva
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Mild nausea
- Feeling unusually tired
…take action.
Try:
Fresh air → look at the horizon → stop looking down → keep your head still → take small sips of water.
And tell your dive guide or instructor that you’re feeling unwell. There’s no reason to be embarrassed. Seasickness happens.
Does Ginger Actually Work?
You’ve probably heard about ginger as a natural seasickness remedy.
Some people swear by ginger tea, ginger sweets or ginger supplements. Research on ginger for motion sickness has produced mixed results, so it isn’t a guaranteed solution.
But if ginger works for you and doesn’t upset your stomach, it can be a simple thing to include in your pre-dive routine.
Just don’t rely on it as your only strategy if you know you’re highly susceptible to motion sickness.
Can You Train Yourself not to get Seasick?
Sometimes. People can become accustomed to repeated motion, which is why someone may find that seasickness becomes less of a problem after spending more time on boats. But there’s a huge individual difference.
You might be completely fine on a calm day and suddenly feel terrible when the sea gets rough. That’s normal.
Seasickness isn’t a measure of how experienced you are as a diver.
We’ve seen plenty of confident divers who are perfectly happy underwater but considerably less happy on the surface.
Seasickness and Scuba Diving: Know when to call it
This is perhaps the most important part. If you’re severely seasick, dehydrated, dizzy or feeling unwell, don’t feel pressured to get in the water just because you’ve paid for a dive.
Your safety comes first.
Severe vomiting can also leave you dehydrated and exhausted — not exactly the ideal condition for scuba diving.
Tell your instructor or dive guide how you’re feeling so they can help you decide what makes sense. Sometimes the smartest dive is the one you decide not to do.
What if You're Still Seasick when You Enter the Water?
Sometimes the symptoms don’t disappear just because you jumped off the boat.
The good news is that some divers actually feel better once they’re underwater, because the boat movement is gone. But that doesn’t mean you should automatically ignore severe nausea. If you’re only mildly uncomfortable and otherwise feel well, tell your dive guide or buddy before entering the water so they know how you’re feeling.
What if you need to vomit underwater?
Yes — it is possible to vomit while scuba diving and still breathe through your regulator.
Your regulator is designed to allow you to breathe while water is being expelled. If you feel like you’re going to vomit:
- Stay calm.
- Keep your regulator in your mouth.
- Don’t remove your regulator to vomit.
- Allow the vomit to leave through the regulator’s exhaust valves.
- Once you’re finished, take a few controlled breaths and make sure you’re comfortable.
- Signal your buddy and/or dive guide if you need to end the dive.
It may sound horrible — but your regulator can handle it.
🚨 Don’t try to push through severe seasickness
Vomiting underwater is possible, but that doesn’t mean you should deliberately continue a dive when you’re seriously unwell. If you’re experiencing repeated vomiting, severe dizziness, weakness, confusion, difficulty concentrating or you’re simply feeling unsafe, end the dive. Signal your buddy or guide and make a controlled ascent according to your training and the dive plan.
What if you vomit and then feel better?
It can happen that you vomit once, feel significantly better and are otherwise alert and comfortable.
Even then, let your buddy or dive guide know what happened. You may also want to consider whether continuing the dive makes sense, particularly if you’re becoming dehydrated or exhausted.
Your dive team can help you make that decision based on the conditions and your situation.
And one important thing…
Don’t remove your regulator underwater because you think you need to vomit. That can turn an unpleasant situation into a very serious one.
If you feel nauseous, stay calm, keep breathing from your regulator and remember that vomiting through a scuba regulator is possible.
Ready for the Underwater Part?
At Fast Manta Diving Krabi, we want your dive day to be about the incredible marine life below the surface — not about surviving the boat ride. 🤿🌊
Whether you’re joining us for your first dive or you’re already a seasoned diver, our team is here to help you have a safe, comfortable and memorable day underwater.
Dive with purpose. Protect what you love. Inspire others.
