What to Do if You Have Motion Sickness on a Boat

If you tend to get motion sickness on a boat, it can help to eat light beforehand, use remedies before symptoms start, sit near the center facing forward, keep your eyes on the horizon, and get fresh air when you need it. They may seem like small adjustments, but they really can make it easier for your body to handle movement so nausea doesn’t take over.

Below, we’ll walk you through a few things you can do before and during a boat ride to help keep motion sickness at bay.

Eat Light and Skip Heavy or Alcoholic Meals Before Boarding

That second mimosa may have seemed like a great idea on land, but once the boat starts moving, it could very well come back to haunt you.

It’s not just alcohol. Big meals and greasy food can also make your stomach work harder right before it’s asked to deal with motion. And when digestion is already in high gear, and the boat starts rocking, nausea doesn’t need much encouragement — it just shows up.

Lighter food, on the other hand, makes digestion a little easier, giving your body more room to adjust to movement without feeling overwhelmed. Water helps too, especially when it replaces alcohol that tends to amplify every uneasy feeling once you’re underway.

Use Preventive Remedies Before Symptoms Start

True to the name, preventive remedies tend to work best when your body still feels mostly fine, as even the best options have a harder time catching up once nausea kicks in. Having something in place early gives your system support before it decides there’s a problem.

Some tried-and-true preventative remedies for motion sickness include:

• Over-the-counter medication

• Patches or wristbands

• Ginger candies or tea

Just remember that the remedy itself isn’t the magic part. It’s the fact that you’re not waiting until your stomach is already unhappy and demanding your full attention.

Sit Near the Center and Face Forward to Reduce Motion

Where you sit on a boat can have a bigger impact than you’d think. Someone feeling rough near the back shifts toward the center, faces forward, and suddenly realizes they’re not bracing themselves anymore.

And the reason is pretty simple. The center of the boat tends to experience less dramatic movement than the front or back, so your body has fewer ups and downs to process. Then, if you face forward on top of that, you can also help your brain stay oriented, since what you see lines up more closely with what your body feels.

In other words, when your senses agree on what’s happening, your system stays calmer. It’s when they don’t that nausea tends to jump in and take control.

Look at the Horizon and Avoid Screens or Reading

Once you start feeling queasy, it can be tempting to reach for your phone in the hopes that a little distraction will help. But unfortunately, it rarely does.

See, when you’re reading or staring at a screen, your eyes are locked onto something that isn’t moving, even though your body can feel every shift of the boat, and that disconnect is where things tend to spiral. Your brain ends up trying to make sense of two different stories at once, and settles on nausea as the answer.

Looking out at the horizon, on the other hand, works because it gives your eyes and your body the same reference point, and everything starts moving together instead of fighting for control. Even focusing on a distant shoreline or fixed object can take the edge off and help things settle.

It may not feel like you’re doing much of anything in the moment, but this one small shift can really help prevent the nausea from building.

Get Fresh Air and Avoid Heat or Strong Smells

Once nausea starts creeping in, the environment around you matters more than people expect. Warm, enclosed spaces have a way of making everything feel heavier and harder to manage, and strong smells don’t help either. There’s nothing like diesel fumes or food odors to kick that motion sickness up a notch.

Fresh air can definitely help, though. Cooler temperatures, moving air, and open space can give your body a chance to reset, so stepping outside or heading to an upper deck often brings relief faster than trying to sit it out below.

Motion Sickness Doesn’t Have to Keep You Off the Water

Dealing with motion sickness on a boat doesn’t have to mean sitting trips out or bracing yourself for the worst. Most of the time, it comes down to a handful of small choices that help your body stay oriented instead of overwhelmed. When those adjustments are in place, the experience usually feels a lot more manageable than people expect.

If you’re ready to get out and enjoy your time on the water, join us for a sunset cruise, sightseeing tour, dinner cruise, or even one of our popular live music cruises. Check out our events calendar and come spend some time with us at Collingwood Charters — we’d be happy to have you!