Cairns: GBR Liveaboard … No Go

Actually, the liveaboard went ahead as planned. It just did so without us.

What is a liveaboard? In Cairns, it’s when you live on a reef boat for a period of time to snorkel or dive at the Great Barrier Reef [GBR]. In our case, this was going to be a two night/three day experience with Divers Den.

Well, late last night I got hit with a bout of vertigo — specifically, BPPV … Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. I took one of the pills the doctor prescribed when I had an episode last fall. Mui then helped me with the Epley Maneuver, designed to re-align the crystals in the ear canal. Neither helped this time.

With the symptoms worsening, in the wee hours of this morning, we walked over to the Cairns Hospital emergency room … just down the street from our hotel. Long story short, the doctor first confirmed that I was ailing from BPPV and not a more sinister neurological issue. He then induced the symptoms of vertigo — which is such a horrible sensation with the room spinning like crazy — to confirm the source was the crystals in the left ear. Finally, he performed a slightly different version of the Epley Maneuver … which’s seems to have done the trick … at least for now.

I had my first BPPV episode in 2017 when we were returning to the USA from a trip to Türkiye. Then it disappeared until the episode I had last fall. And now this third episode in Australia. No one really knows what sets off BPPV … other than a sudden head movement that throws the crystals in the ear canal out of alignment. It is more prevalent amongst the 60+ group. So, I’ve learned to slow down my head movements. The only sudden movement I can recall in the past few days is a big sneeze that had me jerking my head away from the table. If that was the cause … well, darn it.

Of course, there was no question of us going on the liveaboard … departure scheduled for 7:30a today. We canceled our reservation as soon as the Divers Den office opened this morning.

I feel really bad for Mui because he’s the snorkeller in our family. He’s been out to the GBR twice before … on cruise ship calls on Cairns. Nonetheless, he was really looking forward to the liveaboard for some extended reef time. The good news? I convinced him to book a daytrip out to the GBR tomorrow … and maybe for the day after as well. No sense in him being stuck in a hotel room while I continue to rest up.Read more