Sunday, October 14, 2007
My New Best Friend
My new best friend is Darlene, who lives in Russellville, Arkansas. Here’s why she is my new best friend.
Friday night we headed out to do two dives: the twilight and the night. Palancar Gardens was the twilight dive. Everything was fine until the last 15 minutes of the dive. The current typically flows from the south to the north but this night, the current switched at least twice. We dive with the current so, if you can imagine, we backtracked a bit. First, we headed north, then turned around and headed south. Then, back north when the current changed.
Pingo and the other four divers were ahead of us. At one point, the current pushed us toward some coral and we had to kick pretty fierce to stay away. Then, I noticed that Pingo and the other divers went up and over this huge coral head. I got Greg’s attention and motioned that we need to head over there, where the others went. As soon as we got close to the top edge of the coral, the current pushed us both up over the top. Instead of gliding across the top, the current continued to push us up.
Looking back, our computers said we went from about 40 feet to 19 feet within two minutes. Quite a ride! And the current at the top of the reef was ripping! So, with all that motion—up, down, sideways, this way, that way, and then back on the boat—my stomach was not doing so good. We ended up not doing the night dive; we just hung out on the boat and watched everyone else dive. It’s pretty cook to watch all the flashlights in the water. We just wished that was us.
Darlene’s friend Shannon had come with us on the boat just to enjoy the boat ride. She and I got to talking about diving and sea sickness. Shannon’s husband, Darlene, and Darlene’s husband were all diving the night dive. Finally, the night dive is over, everyone is back on the boat, and we head back to the hotel.
Now, fast forward to Saturday morning just outside the Dive Shop. Darlene walks up to me and says, “My friend Shannon tells me you get sea sick a lot. I want you to try something that I use.”
For the next ten minutes or so, we exchange motion sickness stories. It might sound bizarre but unless you’re very motion sensitive like I am, you really don’t understand how icky it is. Darlene understands. It seems she’s just like me. But she’s found something that she uses and it’s wonderful! A pharmacist friend of hers makes this gel with scopolamine in it. I’ve heard of it before but never knew that it came in a gel. You just rub some on your wrists about one hour before you go out on the boat and presto! No motion sickness. And the best part is there are no side effects like when taking Bonine.
Darlene gave me a tube with ten applications in it. So yesterday afternoon, on the 3:30 p.m. dive, I tried it. Not bad—no issues. But, still, I’m just a little skeptical so today was the true test—one small boat, a 30 minute boat ride, a deep dive, and a surface interval on the boat.
So, did it work, you ask? As far as I can tell, yes. The boat ride was no issue. The deep dive was no problem. Turns out we had to return to the dive shop to pick up two more divers for the 10:30 a.m. dive so no surface interval on the boat. I was just a tad queasy when I got back on the boat but the boat ride and having a short surface on land helped. I also used the gel before the 3:30 p.m. dive today, and it seemed to work.
I think I may be on to something. Thanks to my new best friend, Darlene!
Friday night we headed out to do two dives: the twilight and the night. Palancar Gardens was the twilight dive. Everything was fine until the last 15 minutes of the dive. The current typically flows from the south to the north but this night, the current switched at least twice. We dive with the current so, if you can imagine, we backtracked a bit. First, we headed north, then turned around and headed south. Then, back north when the current changed.
Pingo and the other four divers were ahead of us. At one point, the current pushed us toward some coral and we had to kick pretty fierce to stay away. Then, I noticed that Pingo and the other divers went up and over this huge coral head. I got Greg’s attention and motioned that we need to head over there, where the others went. As soon as we got close to the top edge of the coral, the current pushed us both up over the top. Instead of gliding across the top, the current continued to push us up.
Looking back, our computers said we went from about 40 feet to 19 feet within two minutes. Quite a ride! And the current at the top of the reef was ripping! So, with all that motion—up, down, sideways, this way, that way, and then back on the boat—my stomach was not doing so good. We ended up not doing the night dive; we just hung out on the boat and watched everyone else dive. It’s pretty cook to watch all the flashlights in the water. We just wished that was us.
Darlene’s friend Shannon had come with us on the boat just to enjoy the boat ride. She and I got to talking about diving and sea sickness. Shannon’s husband, Darlene, and Darlene’s husband were all diving the night dive. Finally, the night dive is over, everyone is back on the boat, and we head back to the hotel.
Now, fast forward to Saturday morning just outside the Dive Shop. Darlene walks up to me and says, “My friend Shannon tells me you get sea sick a lot. I want you to try something that I use.”
For the next ten minutes or so, we exchange motion sickness stories. It might sound bizarre but unless you’re very motion sensitive like I am, you really don’t understand how icky it is. Darlene understands. It seems she’s just like me. But she’s found something that she uses and it’s wonderful! A pharmacist friend of hers makes this gel with scopolamine in it. I’ve heard of it before but never knew that it came in a gel. You just rub some on your wrists about one hour before you go out on the boat and presto! No motion sickness. And the best part is there are no side effects like when taking Bonine.
Darlene gave me a tube with ten applications in it. So yesterday afternoon, on the 3:30 p.m. dive, I tried it. Not bad—no issues. But, still, I’m just a little skeptical so today was the true test—one small boat, a 30 minute boat ride, a deep dive, and a surface interval on the boat.
So, did it work, you ask? As far as I can tell, yes. The boat ride was no issue. The deep dive was no problem. Turns out we had to return to the dive shop to pick up two more divers for the 10:30 a.m. dive so no surface interval on the boat. I was just a tad queasy when I got back on the boat but the boat ride and having a short surface on land helped. I also used the gel before the 3:30 p.m. dive today, and it seemed to work.
I think I may be on to something. Thanks to my new best friend, Darlene!
// posted by Leenie @ 8:38 PM 
