[Closed] Last ferry from Outer Hebrides before storm

Out of the available choices I'd go for vomit if you are after a recommendation?

It was just my initial sliding scale.

Looking for reassuring platitudes or tales of gloom.

Send lots of pictures so that I can truly appreciate drinking beer in my front room.
edit ,you're sailing tomorrow morning so swap that for drinking tea in bed.

The trick is to eat plenty, preferably a fried breakfast and then lie down in a bed as close to the cog of the vessel as possible. But it's a ferry so it doesn't have a cog...

Lochmaddy - Uig isn't normally that bad, regardless of the weather. I mean, it'll sail even when the bigger boat that does Stornoway - Ullapool won't leave port.

It's only a short ferry ride, what could possibly go wrong?

😉

Seriously though, it's a lumpy bit of sea but if the ferry is running it will be safe but unpleasant. Think of it like turbulence on a plane with open air seating

Eat some ginger, helps with seasickness. Either that or jam sandwiches. Jam sandwiches won't help with sickness but it'll taste better when it comes back up.
Best thing to stop seasickness is to sit under a tree.

You may yet get the dreaded text from Calmac saying It's cancelled, like ours to Arran was last year.

Ginger, I forgot about that - does it actually work? Too late anyway, what about a red wine and whisky hangover instead?

Perfect !!

I fondly remember leaving my mum on the Hull to Rotterdam ferry on a bench on deck all night as she suffered terribly with sea sickness. Me and my brother and sister on the other hand thought it was great, like an endless rollercoaster with finger buffet on hand.

Ps. It’ll be fine.

A couple of years ago I cut my holiday on the Outer Hebrides short by a good few days as there was a storm coming. I had been listening to the shipping forecast for the duration of my trip as I’ve a healthy fear of the sea/boats so was out of there like a shot, it did mean a night crossing which put the heebie jeebies even further up me! (Tarbert-Uig).

Just sit close to an exit on the deck where the lifeboats are

We did the Tarbert - Uig crossing when it was a bit lumpy. I seemed to be fine if I could see land and stayed near the window. The Stornoway one didn't even sail. I didn't die 👍🏻

I did Cairnryan to Larne during Storm Dennis.
I'm usually OK with such things, felt a bit funny and had to go on deck for some fresh air but nothing worse.
My companions (a tug captain and a bloke who grew up on Greek Island and spent his whole childhood on a boat) were both fine in the bar, and very sympathetic🙈
.
That was probably a bigger boat than the OP's mind...

Cutting my holiday short just isn't on the cards, I'm far too tight for that. Every night of paid for accommodation will be used regardless of the misery inflicted on my family.

Oban - Lochboisdale is the bastard in a storm/large swell.

i managed a breakfast. the wife spent 4 hours in the toilet spewing.

Ginger, I forgot about that – does it actually work?

It depends. I ate loads of stem ginger before a fishing trip out of Hartlepool on a 40’ boat. There was a 30’ swell running & I was hauling fish up through a slick of ginger flavoured puke.
Didn’t put me off boat fishing though!

I always stay outside if I can (even if it means wearing heaps of layers or waterproofs) - being inside makes me feel worse. Focus on something that isn't moving - like the horizon if you can. Stugeron tablets are good for any sort of travel sickness and there are also those acupressure wrist bands (sea bands) which can help too. Avoid reading anything, looking through binocular or using a camera.

Did Oban - Lochboisdale and it was quite exciting. When you are alone in the cafeteria holding your plate down you do question if you had to go !

If it's rough, there'll be people holed up in a toilet cubicle, rolled around against their will, without forewarning of direction or duration, either being sick or waiting to be sick, aggregated vom slopping around from cubicle to cubicle underneath them.

And there'll be other people out on deck, faces in the wind, having the time of their lives, bouncing on the balls of their feet, anticipating every pitch and yaw, scanning the waves for porpoises, wales and dolphins.

Be the second sort of person, even if you have to pretend a bit.

☝🏻 this seems like great advice 😃

Oh, definitely outside. I can't stand the inside of a ferry.

It takes a few days for a high winds to build up a rough sea state, there wasn’t much wind at all on the inner isles today and I could see right across from north Mull to Barra and there was just a gentle swell. As Lochmaddy is quite well sheltered, you might get a bit of spindrift/spray and a bit of a short chop depending on tides but I doubt you’re going to be strapping yourself in. It might help reduce the queues in the cafe though.

Tide will be ebbing, so flowing South, against the wind, which might kick up a chop, but it's the long rolling swells that cause the worst motion and, as above, they need time to build up. If you look at magicseaweed.com which gives wave forecasts for surfers, there's nothing big.

8 pints of McEwans before you get on should sort you out 👍

I think the summary is you'll be okay. If that's not true take photos to entertain us

😎

Aye, Poidh

Just stay away from the toilets at all cost

Have memories of a drunken booze cruise (is there any other type?) to France in the 90's

Went into the loo to be sick only to be confronted by a drunk guy on the floor in a pool of piss with it lapping over him

I then puked in the door way and watched it mix in with the piss and lap over him

I then turned around and went back to the bar area and laid down on some seats and slept

No idea how the guy got out, presume the ship's crew got him out of there

Tie a big lump of bacon fat to a long piece of hairy string. Swallow the bacon fat, leaving the string hanging out of your mouth. Anytime you feel I'll, give the string a couple of yanks.

Traditional cure for seasickness.

I then puked in the door way and watched it mix in with the piss and lap over him

The perfect pre-breakfast thread!!

Ok robola, it’s past 7:30 and we all want to know how you’re getting on …

According to the Calmac app he’s on his way.
Any out of Mallaig are cancelled.

Looking forward to the report back!

I was on the wee flat bottomed ferry between Harris and North Uist a few years ago (a flat bottomed cattle thing like the western ferries at Gourock).

We pootled out round the we islands and rocks nice and gently, and suddenly there seemed to a stretch of water that was just he wold Atlantic, totally exposed to the swell and conditions. F*****************!

Then it was over and we back in shelter again. Fun!

Love the Outer Hebrides - really really must go back, its been 20 years!

Okay, nearly in Uig. A wild ride. If the wind is strong enough and in the right direction a big swell builds pretty quick!

Spent most of crossing outside in full waterproofs, still wet from spray and rain driven up my legs. There was definitely vomit (not mine). My car reg was called over the tannoy, big auto Merc without handbrake on had rolled into my car, resting on the towbar mounted bike rack. Plenty of water sloshing about on the car deck.

But, as predicted we survived.

This is when you find out that high winds have closed the Skye Bridge 😃

Surprised we’ve not had this

Mrs DB’s definition of ‘rough’ is when you have to pick up your cup to stop it sloshing around, mine is when you’re shipping 20 feet of green water over the bows.
I worked with some ex-RN guys who recalled being in the South Atlantic, the ship rolling onto the beam ends, people falling out of bunks and the distinctive noise of the propellers spinning in air as the ship pitched over a big wave.

@scuttler that is amazing, and quite scary

Nope

Nope

Nope

And

Nope

NOT a Northlink Ferry, so NOT Shetlands.

I am dreadful on Ferry’s have to be outside, a guy I used to work with was a navigator on bulk carriers (he would only sail on British registered boats) he told this story a of a 14 day crossing of the Pacific, not a huge swell but a constant motion. He said everyone got sick even him which surprised me. He did have some amazing stories.

Good luck One year after New year it took 5 hours for the return to Uig. They closed the cafeteria 15min after sailing. You know its going to be rough when the ferry does a bump dock and the wind pushed the boat in then they chain the cars down. Ferry could not sail normal route south east then north east. Cafeteria was a mess food all over the place and people ill. Suppose its changed now with h&s at Armadale a year or so later I said CalMac never cancel as we cycled down arrived to find no ferry. People took pity AND the 4 of us were put up in a croft. The islanders are used to disruptio The Stornoway ferry was sitting out a storm off Stornoway once, they were upset as they ran out of alcohol. 😂

The trick is to eat plenty, preferably a fried breakfast and then lie down in a bed as close to the cog of the vessel as possible.

Hoek - Harwich, 6 or 7am sailing, around 2002. They did an all you can eat breakfast for something like 7 euros. I arrived a hour early, and took full advantage of that deal. Then 30 mins after we should have departed, the Captains is saying we need to get a tug boat to pull us away from the port side, as their bow thruster wasnt strong enough to beat the wind on the side.
1 hour later, we're in the North Sea in a Force 9. I lied down in the closest double seat to the centre of the boat, and fell sleep. Didnt notice any of the mad seas we had been through, woke up 1 hour from Harwich, took a walk to the toilet, the corridor is maybe 4 metres wide, I touched both sides twice as I walked down it. The toilet floor was soaking, mostly sick I think, and smelt terrible. Amazingly, I didnt feel even a little bit nauseous. So yes, go to sleep in the middle of the boat.