Seasick on the Boat Trip – When It Hits Your Child

An adult notices they’re starting to feel unwell and says so. A child only notices that something isn’t right – and has no word for it. That’s why seasickness in children almost always takes parents by surprise, even though it announced itself ten minutes earlier.

Anyone who knows the signs can usually still act, as long as it’s still just unpleasant. After that, the only thing that helps is getting there.

The signs, before anything happens

Pay less attention to what your child says than to what they stop doing.

They go quiet. The clearest signal there is. A child who was whooping at every wave a moment ago and suddenly just sits there is rarely “tired”.

Or the opposite: whiny, fussy, wanting to be carried. In younger children, nausea often shows up as bad mood with no obvious cause.

Yawning, a pale face, cold or clammy skin. Also common: they stop wanting to drink, even though it’s warm.

The head sinks onto a shoulder or a cushion. Eyes closed, gaze away from the horizon – exactly the posture that makes it worse.

Susceptibility is highest between roughly two and twelve years old; after that it often eases off by itself. It’s rarely seen in infants. That doesn’t change the fact that operators set their own age limits for very young children – these are listed on the relevant booking page and differ from boat to boat.

The moment it starts

Leaving from Portimão, this moment is predictable almost to the minute. The trip starts on the Arade, between the two harbour walls – the water here is mirror-flat, and everyone on board assumes it’ll stay that way.

Beyond the harbour entrance, that stops abruptly. That’s the open Atlantic, and even under a blue sky it carries a swell you can’t see from the beach. The stretch east along the cliffs towards Benagil that follows has no sheltering bay at all – open water until the first cave is reached.

In practice that means: get your child settled in the right spot while you’re still on the river, not once you’re outside. By the time the first wave hits, the calm seat is already taken.

Where the calmest seat on board is

Midship, on the outside, facing forward. The up-and-down movement is smallest in the middle of the boat and greatest at the bow – exactly where children most want to sit.

More important than the seat is where they look. The horizon needs to stay in view. Anything that pulls the gaze down and inward – a phone, a spot-the-difference book, rummaging in a backpack, sitting in the shade below deck – makes the problem worse. It helps children to give them a task on the horizon: counting dolphins, looking out for the next bay, watching the cliffs.

A sensitive child has no business at the stern next to the engine. Exhaust fumes and nausea don’t mix well.

Which boat rocks how much

This is the decision that makes the biggest difference – and it’s made when you book, not once you’re on board.

Catamaran – calmest. Two hulls, little heel, plenty of room to move around. Catamaran tours start at around €18. The catch: it doesn’t go inside the Benagil cave.

Pirate ship – steady through sheer mass, but long. A larger hull rolls more slowly. The pirate ship trip from Portimão, however, lasts 2.5 hours – quite a lot for a sensitive child.

Sailing boat – steady, but heeled over. Under sail, the canvas stabilises the boat, but it then sits permanently at an angle, and the trips last longer. From €24.80.

Speedboat and RIB – roughest. They bounce over the waves. Some children find exactly that brilliant and stay perfectly cheerful, others get reliably sick from it. If you don’t know which yours is, the 1.5-hour trip for around €12 is a manageable risk – a 4-hour tour is not.

Time of day, and what goes on the plate beforehand

In the morning the Atlantic here is usually noticeably calmer than in the afternoon, when the north-westerly wind picks up. On the evening sunset cruises, the sea often settles again; the shortest lasts 75 minutes. The detailed section on wind, waves and time of day is in the article for adults, and it applies just as much to children.

On breakfast beforehand, only experience can be reported, not advice: going on board completely empty-stomached tends to go badly, and so does a heavy, fatty meal. Something light and enough water is what most families do.

Motion sickness remedies: ask beforehand, don’t read it here

Remedies for motion sickness exist. Whether one of them is suitable for your child at their age is something nobody here can or may answer – much of what adults take isn’t approved for children, and suitability depends on age.

Check this before your trip with your pharmacy or your child’s paediatrician, not the evening before the tour, and certainly not on the jetty. We deliberately name no product, no active ingredient and no home remedy here.

If it happens anyway

There’s no stopping partway through a cave tour. Turning back would mean everyone else loses their tour – no crew does that, and you won’t want to ask for it either.

What usually helps on board: outside into the fresh air, midship, eyes on the horizon, jacket off, water in small sips. Most crews carry bags on board, and asking costs nothing – they’re not embarrassed by it, they see it every week. After that, try not to sit back down and look at a phone. Most children feel suddenly better as soon as the boat is back on the river.

When it’s better to skip the tour

If your child already gets regularly sick in the car on mountain roads, a long trip on open sea isn’t a good idea – at least not as a first attempt. Better then: a short morning trip, a calm boat, and more on another day if that goes well.

And if you want to be sure you can call it off at any point: that’s only possible on a private tour from around €120, because then there’s no one else on board whose trip you’d be cutting short. For the regular route to the Benagil cave, the simpler rule applies: book short, go early, sit midship.