Sunday, October 10

I booked us a snorkeling excursion for Sunday, and in the morning we had breakfast at the hotel, and then met up with our group at the dive shop.

I was so excited—I’ve only been snorkeling once before, at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, but it was amazing. I love boats, I love getting away from the city, and I love the experience of seeing all different kinds of fish just beneath me in the water.

I thought I’d have a lot of fun. Instead, I got incredibly seasick and felt worse than I have in a long, long time. Surprise!

There were about twenty of us in the group—mostly Americans, Europeans, and Brits, and a couple of Thais. The instructors had similar backgrounds, and were all burly and tattooed and friendly. We all took a couple songthaews to the pier, and then boarded our little board.

Before we left the harbor, one of the crew mentioned it would be a good time to take any seasickness tablets we’d brought, if we thought we’d need them. I had brought along Dramamine, and gave one to Roman, but didn’t take one myself. I get carsick, so the first few times I was on a boat, I was afraid I’d get seasick, but I never have. Even on small boats and on rough waters, and even when other people around me were getting sick, I’ve always felt fine.

But as we headed out to sea, I started to wonder if I’d made a mistake. The water was really choppy and the boat was going fast, and rocking crazily over the waves. But the pills can make me feel kinda weird, and it felt like a difficult task to move my body in any way, so I just stayed still, looked out the horizon, and felt the strong breezes blowing against my face. Roman, who was feeling similarly to me, did the same.

Then one of the crew members said if we were feeling seasick (as several people on the boat were), we might wanna go to the lower deck and sit in the middle of the boat. I was feeling pretty bad at that point, so I figured I’d give it a try, thinking maybe this would be the choice that would turn things around for me—but it was a mistake. Moving around so much made me feel ill, and the different fumes on the lower deck made me feel worse. Before long, I was rushing to the bathroom to throw up for the first time of many.

I was so sick. I was so sick I had to remind myself that people don’t die of seasickness and I wouldn’t actually have to be airlifted off the boat. I was so sick I just lay on the floor of the boat, using a lifejacket at a pillow, while my dress got soaked and people walked around me. I was so sick that when another passenger asked me if I needed medicine, I just nodded my head without bothering to ask what it was.

It turned out to be Dramamine—the guy, Carlos, gave it to me in a sealed packet with some water, and because of that I was able to sleep on my weird spot on the boat floor for maybe an hour, and absorb most of the medicine before throwing up for the next time.

Things improved after that. Roman brought me up to the upper deck, where the air was fresher and I could lie down on actual benches. Roman wasn’t feeling well either, and we mostly lay down and chatted with each other when we could.

When the boat stopped for a second dive, I raised my head and saw we had reached a kind of tropical paradise.

I looked out at a white sand beach, dotted with palm trees. Every few minutes, a group of monkeys would run across the beach and the Thais would point them out and would tell us not to go on the beach because they bite.

Several people mentioned we’d feel better if we went in the water, and I didn’t wanna miss my chance at snorkeling in this lovely place, so eventually, Roman and I decided to give it a try.

It took a long time—every effort, like zipping up my life jacket, set off another wave of nausea, and I’ve have to lie down for a couple minutes until I recovered. But eventually, we made it to the lower deck, got our snorkeling gear on, and jumped into the water.

It was pretty cool—the island was on a reef, so after swimming for a bit, we could look down at the coral below. We saw schools of tiny shimmering fish, and bigger, more colorful fish, as well as a ton of sea urchins.

We both still felt seasick, though, and didn’t stay out for all that long.

We spent the rest of the boat trip mostly lying down. 

The return trip, thankfully, was much gentler, and I never felt as bad as I did during that one particularly rough patch. When we approached the harbor, I sat up and checked out the views.

And I checked out some boats along the pier (though, to tell the truth, I wasn't feeling quite as enamored of boats as I usually am)...

And then we made our way home to shower and rehydrate and watch Castaway.

I did feel a little disappointed about the day. I was really looking forward to the snorkeling trip, and it wasn’t cheap, and I don’t know when we’ll get the chance to do something like it next. But I tried to maintain a sense of humor about it—you know, the day really didn’t go the way I expected, and that’s just sometimes how things roll. Also, it turns out I can get seasick. Very, very seasick.