Northern Nausea

I've spent the last hour doing research on anti-nausea medications, more specifically those related to motion sickness.

I got an invitation from a boat captain to take a trip up to the Northern Islands. I'm dying to go again, but I get horribly seasick. I went up about 13 years ago. We went to Anatahan, Alamagan, Pagan and Agrigan -- all the inhabited islands. Most of them had about 5-10 people living on them. They are beautiful islands -- absolutely spectacular, mythical. They must be some of the most remote and untouched parts of the world. I bet most of them have had less than 100 humans visit them over the past 100 years. This trip includes Maug, which is the summit of a volcanic crater. This is what it looks like from the air.


My last trip was a five day trip, and I spent those five days hanging over the side of the boat "feeding the fish." I took all the anti seasickness drugs, but I managed to break through them, while still suffering from all their side effects -- my mouth was dry, I couldn't see, I couldn't pee, and I was puking my guts out. I was a sight to behold, drapped over two bags of rice with my head in a bucket. When I returned, and people asked me about the trip, I would say, "It was a once in a lifetime trip." But I so want to go again.

Apparently there is some drug out of Europe that sailors use a few days prior to their trip and about three days into the trip that kills the nausea and seasickness. It's not approved in the US. I'm trying to find out more about it, but no luck yet. I don't even know its name. If I can figure out this seasickness thing, I'm going back to the Northern Islands.

Can you see Anatahan?

It's there. Look carefully.

Today seems like the first clear day in weeks. A few of us hiked up from the Korean War Memorial up to Suicide Cliff as part of the Beautify CNMI project to mark a set of trails that will link the northern end of the island to Lake Susupe. When we reached the top, off in the distance, Anatahan was visible. I remember the first time I saw it from Saipan, years ago, I was shocked at how big it is. It's been about a year since it's erupted enough to cloud Saipan's skies. Can you see it?

Here is another unlikely scene you could have witnessed if you were there.