Long distance journey by sea or ocean sounds really exciting to embark upon, however you need to know what you are getting into. Staying in the sea opens a whole new gate or experiences and knowledge about the water bodies too. This article is a must know of the long distance journey by sea or ocean travel. You may or may not know of these things but there’s a whole lot of things within these points that is important to consider.
It is always a good idea to do your own research too keeping in mind your nature of travel and the distance. Here I have simply explained the 9 ways or points but it requires a lot more to know within them too.
9 ways to prepare for long distance journey by sea are as follows:
- One way to prepare is planning outline
- Food & energy
- Mapping
- Contingency plan
- Motion sickness cures
- Survival skills
- Scientific skill helps
- Be a handy man or woman
- Checklist
One way to prepare is planning an outline
Out line the start point to end point. Decide to stay close to the shores or offshore. Do not try to go alone if on a long distance journey. Planning way ahead your stops. Think whether you want to spend night on a land some where or take a break while traveling or not. Consult with expert anglers.
Food supply
You will require plenty of nutrition while traveling this long distance away from land. You definitely need a lot of fresh food supply. Some of the common think noticed are canned foods and fresh fish from the ocean. It is important to check if the fish has not eaten plastic. Yes! it has been noticed that fishes in the ocean also might have eaten plastic due to us disposing plastic waste in the oceans.
Secondly you will need fresh water pump. At least learn to produce fresh water in case of breakdown. Now, its time to explain the benefit of having a plastic sheet with you. If you don’t have anything around you other than a plastic sheet then you can use it this way.
It helps you to even make sea water turn into fresh water and hence at least let you survive for a while and not affect you that bad due to dehydration. Remember, never to drink salt water as it can dehydrate you. Most of those reading this already know of this but just in case if there’s some one who didn’t know I thought it would help.
Mapping
Mapping or knowing the map of where you are going is really important. Have a different versions of maps with you. If you are on a fishing boat chances are the you might be already have a Chartplotter or a GPS tracker like Lowrance and Raymarine chartplotters. These are quite popular brands and widely used by many Anglers.
Contingency plan
What is going to be your back up plan while on a journey in the sea or an ocean? You need to let people know that you are going to be on a long distance journey by sea. It’s best to register with the coastal services and get their advice too when you are nearby so they know. Accidents do happen and for that your need to be prepared
Long distance journey by sea have lots of aspects to it
Nothing good in this world is easy. For every amazing thing a hard work is required. The point is that always plan and have a contingency plan in mind. Do keep in mind their local laws and how to ask for help. Find out how you can ask for help in that place. Absolutely must is that you need to know where is the nearest places to call for help. How long will it take. In such instances some really good chart plotters help.
Accidents do happen on board. People don’t plan on that but being prepared is better. As the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”. I urge you that you need to learn swimming if you are thinking of long distance travel by sea, in this case i may say by oceans. It’s quite an experience when you cross two oceans one is cold water and the other is warm water. This is where the weather also changes.
A substitute for the GPS trackers
Since, most of us have smart phone now a days and mobile phones have GPS too. However, having a phone would be difficult sometimes to track the area where you want to go and where you are currently and have to rely on the phone signal. While searching for the GPS trackers and trying to find out where in the sea or an ocean can we have a phone signal, i came across this. Here, apart from having a paper or plastic print of the map you need an app called Navionics.
Navionics app is good when you don’t have a phone signal too.
Downloading the app and area too it helps. Having a pre download of the area you don’t have to worry about it loading with the signal as it can be really handy. This is definitely useful. It’s really good as it also helps and let’s you know the time it would take for you to reach your destination area.
My article of Top 15 best fish finder reviews has the top GPS trackers also such as Lawrance and Raymarine which are quite a well known brands and also most widely used by lot of fisherman. To Read more about the article please >>>>>>click here<<<<<
What do you need know when you move from one season to another while on board a fishing boat
Do not underestimate this part. You may be caught by surprise if you don’t know this part of planning. Know what kind of weather you will be facing. Does that part of the ocean get hurricanes.
The view from #GOESEast shows #Florence still hasn’t moved much as the storm slowly slogs inland. Parts of North Carolina have already picked up 20-30 inches of rain, with more on the way. More info: https://t.co/L9AEmb5sG9 #TropicalStormFlorence pic.twitter.com/pYJKeZ1mwG
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) 15 September 2018
Motion sickness cures
Motion sickness is quite common in the fishing community and most of the anglers or boats man are aware of it. There’s plenty of local remedies the they suggest and it works for them.
Best remedy to avoid motion sickness
- Avoid Beer or alcoholic drinks
- Do not concentrate and look down in the sea bed
- Have good enough rest before going for a sea trip
- Make your stomach full but not over eat
- Hydrate yourself
- Keep motion sickness medicine but shouldn’t cause you drowsiness (you may consult the fellow anglers)
I really liked this video on explanation on motion sickness. The elderly gentleman really explains it very well. Watch this!
Survival skills
Your survival skill will play a major role in you surviving the situation. In case you happen to land on an island or a isolated place how to survive an unexpected situation when you are in the sea. Survival skills are a key to you reaching your destination safely to a great extent. What would you do if there’s a hurricane while you are in an ocean. It could be really scary but to know what is the right thing to do can make or break your entire journey.
Scientific skill helps
By scientific skill I mean you need to be in it. You need to know when and how the ocean currents are and which directions they normally move in or out. It’s helpful in situations. You need to have this skill of reading the signs within the maps also. Having an equipment and knowing how to utilize it are two different things.
I hope you now know what i mean. Lastly always stay updated with these related information of traveling by oceans the weather conditions and how to get connected to the emergency coastal services. Many sailors from the east do not know about the storms of the western waters.
To know more about water and related informative quizzes you may look at my Water lovers quiz section on this website.
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Be a handy man or woman
This is going to be helping you to repair your boat or engine. If you are ok with it or I may say you don’t have a choice but to learn to be a handy man if you want to travel by boat on a long distance journey. There’s a whole lot of things that can go wrong and if you are too lazy or didn’t learn to do your job and repair simple things at least then its of no use. Small problems can turn into a huge one too if you don’t do anything about it.
Checklist
Last but not the least is have a check list that you can go through after you have prepared every thing you need. This makes you more organized and this way you don’t forget as you prepare for other things.
As always don’t forget to send your suggestions and ideas through email and please share this article if you find it useful.
