Today I along with my classmates went shark tagging on a research vessel. We had a fun time, gaining valuable opportunities to handle the majestic creatures up close, as well as snorkel in shallower areas. The manual labor of hauling up the lines and snorkeling combined with the fact that many for many of us this was the longest time most, if not any of us, had been on a boat meant that we were exerting a lot of energy on the trip. This caused many of us to get hungry and thirsty quickly, and luckily, we had things aboard to remedy that. However, for my own future planning, I decided to look into what the best options for foods and beverages to bring on boats were.
When planning on what to bring, one of the most important factors to consider is whether the item is low maintenance or not. When planning, its generally best to bring items that require little to no supervision or special accommodations as on a boat you are isolated with limited space. This means items like dry bars and protein bars are top picks when it comes to bringing snacks. These low maintenance items do well in the heat and can include the benefits of fruits without the maintenance that comes with fresh fruit. A good quality protein bar can fill you up for a good amount of time before you have access to actual food. If you have access to refrigeration, fresh fruits are a great option as many don't require much preparation and premade sandwiches are easy to make and store.
In terms of hydration, many people will flock to two options. Sports drinks have been shown to maintain power through anaerobic exercise in heat better than water products, as well as some studies saying they have an increased-on recovery after the exercise. In my opinion these differences are slight enough to ignore but worth mentioning anyways. Sports drinks and water are both effective at maintaining hydration throughout exercise, and the choice of which to bring really comes down to preference. When planning what to bring onto a boat, always be mindful of your boat and who you're with. Try to bring things that will not only help but things that nearly everyone will enjoy because after all, there's no grocery store in the open ocean.
Hello Chris, I was very interested to see what you had to suggest about snacks and drinks to bring on a boat. I usually tend to get seasick when the ocean is more than around four foot swells, and due to this, I usually avoid eating around the time that I am going on a boat, as well as during my time on the boat. I had always had the stigma that doing this would lead to me becoming seasick faster and worse than I would if I simply did not eat. I now realize however that it is essential to keeping myself energized while on the boat and not eating at all while on a boat would lead to me getting very tired very quickly and possibly lead to me getting more seasick than I would be without eating or drinking anything.
ReplyDeleteHello, I thought it was cool that you posted this blog. But it is also kind of funny. I think it is important to know what kind of snacks to bring on the boat, but since seasickness was happening often on the shark-tagging boat I think it would be helpful to have remedies to seasickness. This was a cool and different blog topic and could be helpful to future boaters.
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