What is the best way to avoid this. I am going out of Cancun tomorrow for Sails and Dorado and it looks like it will be pretty rough. It will only be my second time offshore and I'm a little worried about getting sea sick. I have Dramamine (SP). My friend told me to drink beer on the way out, does anybody agree with that. I will post some pics if we get anything. Any advice is well appreciated.

i have used the patches of Dramamine before and have not gotten sick. as for the beer, i would pass, and i love beer!! just dont want to take that chance. watch out for all the advice! i listened to my brother last year when he said we need to stay up late drinking so we will be able to sleep on the way out. wow , big mistake!!

I would say that "your friend" isn't much of a friend. Beer is definitely out as should be all adult beverages both the night before and during the trip.

Drink lots of liquids but lay off sugar...drinks such as gatorade and/or vitamin water are in order.

Take the Dramamine before leaving the dock, if you are suseptable to seasickness....if you wait until you feel sick, its too late.

Eat crackers, chips, etc. during the day.

Whatever you do, keep your eyesight focused out on the horizon....do not look down or bend over unless it is absolutely necessary.

These are things which have helped me and I hope will help you enjoy your outing....if your friend is going with you try to get him to drink lots of beer the night before and eat some greasy hot tacos and drink beer on the way out....he won't give you that advice again, ever.

Start the Dramamine the night before, not at the dock.

Fresh Ginger root....take a good sized snip of it and just kind of gnaw on it all day...also the night before and that day avoid acidic foods like Orange juice.....take some crackers...something dry and starchy.

do those magnet things for behind the ear work?

Get one of those huge dill pickles...suck on it when feeling queezy...somehow that acid in the pickle does the trick. Sounds rather goofy, but it works. Stay away from alcohol before and during the trip...that's a big no no!

Stick w/ the Dramamine. Take 2 the day before (middle of day and before you go to bed) and 1 when you wake up. Try not to party too much the night before. (That might be kinda hard to do while you're there.) It will make your day go smoother. Eat bread, crackers, and other starchy food. Water seems to be the best thing to drink esp. if it's warm that day. The waves get to me more when we stop and start fishing (bottom fishing a wreck or rig). The ride doesn't get to me. When you think you have it under control, maybe you can have a few beers. Try not to sit while running to your fishing spot(s). You'll probably be doing more trolling than anything if you're fishing down there.
Enjoy it! Post a report when you get back.

Good Luck to all!!!

Thanks for all the advice. Sounds like the beer is out and the Dramamine is in alone with water and starchy foods. Will post a report after I get back.

Everyone is different. As long we're motoring along, I'm fine. Stopping to drift fish, the swells would always get me. I tried the patch, Dramamine, ginger, and the acupressure wrist bands. Nothing worked.

The best thing I found for me was no food after midnight, skip breakfast, get sick for 20 minutes, hurl over the side, and then I'd be fine.

my brother swears by the sea bands - mild electric shock on wrist. I have also seen that device work on his teenage son. The alternative 'cure' is to rub your back on a big oak tree....

Well there were 6 foot swells today out of Cancun. Thanks for all the advice cuz I didnt get sea sick however we were only out for 1.5 hrs. There were 2 other people on our charter and they got sick right off the bat and offered to pay for our trip in order to go back. The ride was 30 minutes so we only did about 30 minutes of actuall trolling I did manage to catch a barracuda. We're going back out on Monday (supposed to be 2.5 foot seas) and hopefully we'll get to fish the entire 6 hrs this time. I will post after we go Monday.

For anyone else reading, there are two MAIN things that help, the first is to stay hydrated, drink lots of water and gatoraid. By lots I mean keep them at hand and take a drink every time you see the bottles.

The other is not to look down, or look away from the horizon.

The reason MOST people get sick is because their ears tell them one thing while their eyes tells them another about how they are balanced. The confusion in the brain from the mixed signals is expressed by purging the contents of the stomache... Why I have no clue but it's how the body seems to work.

If you stay hydrated you will keep good blood flow to the brain and keep the brain as focused as possible, this helps it sort out the confusion.

If you watch the horizon your eyes and your ears tell the brain the same story.

I used to get sick every time I went out on the party boats. I'd be sitting out getting drenched by the spray, freezing and hating life all the way until the boat's first stop. Then one vacation a deckhand that had seen me sick on the two previous day's trip told me as we were boarding to meet him at the back of the boat after we were under way and he'd show me how not to get sick.

He had me sit with my back to the cabin and just watch the horizon, every time he saw me look away he'd remind me to watch the horizon. Never got sick on that trip. Then when we went to the second fishing hole he explained to me why I was getting sick. Made perfect sense, and I haven't been sick on a boat since.