I had a client when I was still a divemaster that entered the first stage of hypothermia.
I asked him several time prior that if he was cold (it was our second dive in 18° water and he was wearing a 5mm complete suit without gloves or hood) and he always answered no, but at some point, when I asked him his air, his hands were starting to shake, even if he was trying to hide it.
I decided immediatly to end the dive. He was against it (I may have been swearing in my reg at this point) so I took him by the arm and swam with him to the anchor (super close, luckily).
When we were doing the safety stop, he was totally disoriented and shaking badly.
He sucked his air like mad (passing from 70 bar to 30 in less than 6 minutes) and I had to put my octo in his mouth, because he refused to take it by himself.
I didn't let go of his arm for the entire time until he was safely on the boat.
After a debriefing, he told me that he was ashamed to be so cold and didn't want to screw the dive (we were watching 5 big stingrays) even if he was my only customer this day and that when I grabbed him by the arm he was not understanding much and was thinking slowly.
The next day, I insisted more with the next client about wearing a hood and taking off the top of the wetsuit in between dives to heat with the sun and to dry a little.
I told them that hypothermia was dangerous and 18° was not that hot, and my boss made a face and got me a super nice lecture at the end of the day because I was scaring the clients.
But between telling someone that coldness is super important to know and not telling that, I know exactly how my briefing work now. Hypothermia IS dangerous.
Anyway, that's my scary story, the guy was fine after getting dry and enjoying the sun.
And I felt terribly guilty for not seeing that he was cold way before that.
I asked him several time prior that if he was cold (it was our second dive in 18° water and he was wearing a 5mm complete suit without gloves or hood) and he always answered no, but at some point, when I asked him his air, his hands were starting to shake, even if he was trying to hide it.
I decided immediatly to end the dive. He was against it (I may have been swearing in my reg at this point) so I took him by the arm and swam with him to the anchor (super close, luckily).
When we were doing the safety stop, he was totally disoriented and shaking badly.
He sucked his air like mad (passing from 70 bar to 30 in less than 6 minutes) and I had to put my octo in his mouth, because he refused to take it by himself.
I didn't let go of his arm for the entire time until he was safely on the boat.
After a debriefing, he told me that he was ashamed to be so cold and didn't want to screw the dive (we were watching 5 big stingrays) even if he was my only customer this day and that when I grabbed him by the arm he was not understanding much and was thinking slowly.
The next day, I insisted more with the next client about wearing a hood and taking off the top of the wetsuit in between dives to heat with the sun and to dry a little.
I told them that hypothermia was dangerous and 18° was not that hot, and my boss made a face and got me a super nice lecture at the end of the day because I was scaring the clients.
But between telling someone that coldness is super important to know and not telling that, I know exactly how my briefing work now. Hypothermia IS dangerous.
Anyway, that's my scary story, the guy was fine after getting dry and enjoying the sun.
And I felt terribly guilty for not seeing that he was cold way before that.
Last edited: