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Editor’s Note: This commentary was prompted by Civil Beat’s series, “Dying For Vacation,” which continues through this week. Snorkeling is a significant cause of visitor death in Hawaii.

Imagine you are a veteran lifeguard sitting in your tower and spread out before you are hundreds of people snorkeling face down.

Some of them are motionless as they float above a turtle or a piece of interesting and beautiful coral.

How do you tell whether this motionless body is a live, breathing person who is trying to see something unusual, or a “floater,” somebody who has suffered a catastrophic medical event and is lifeless and pulseless.

This is the dilemma that many lifeguards in the state of Hawaii face. Fortunately, Hawaii lifeguards (many would say the best in the world) are trained to scan all snorkelers in their purview for tell-tale signs, some big and some small, of trouble.

If a guard feels something is amiss the mantra is, “If in doubt go out.”

All guards feel that there is nothing wrong with paddling out on the rescue board for a welfare check on a person in the water, only to discover that they are both fine and puzzled as to why you are contacting them.

At the other end of the spectrum, nothing is more painful than to see the Hawaii Fire Deptartment medics (many would say the best in the country) and lifeguards furiously working on a drowning victim while the family is nearby with bated breath hoping that this is all a nightmare they will soon wake up from.

There is no greater feeling on God’s green earth than when the lifeguards bring a victim, who is lifeless and pulseless, back to the land of the breathing through their efforts.

Nobody knows for certain why some snorkelers drown and the vast majority of them shower and go home to their loved ones.

Nothing gets a lifeguard’s attention and gaze faster than a yell for help from somebody, anybody.

Many of the ones who get into trouble have pre-existing medical conditions, known or unknown, and don’t realize how taxing a snorkel session can be. Many of them are first-time snorkelers and feel uncomfortable in an aquatic environment.

When panic sets in, even in veteran snorkelers, everything goes south.

All the lifeguard signs and videos at the airport can’t prevent a person in panic from setting events into motion that can harm them, but an alert lifeguard can.

I work with some of the best lifeguards in the United States and contacting and saving people in distress is what they do, all day every day.

But at the beach where I work we do get floaters despite all the caution and alertness we throw at the public. The six to eight drowning victims that we couldn’t save all seemed to have the same things in common: They were in their 60s, males and snorkeling by themselves.

Why that is I don’t know. This is simply my humble opinion at best.

Maybe if they had a spouse with them or a friend, someone would yell for help and the floater cycle would be interrupted.

Maybe if they shared with the lifeguards that they had an existing medical condition they would be able to take that shower. But people don’t like to share their medical history.

Some refuse to yell, because of cultural reasons, or are unable to yell for help for whatever reason.

Nothing gets a lifeguard’s attention and gaze faster than a yell for help from somebody, anybody. If you want to see a lifeguard go from sitting to 60 miles an hour, just yell and wave your arms at your family, “Hey! hey … bring the camera!”

In the end the best lifeguard can’t save everyone. It is a great, but sometimes thankless and under-appreciated career choice.

I have seen excellent lifeguards quit because they couldn’t handle the body count. There are counselors — there will always be counseling — but nothing prepares you for the experience of telling a wife or a loved one that the reason they can’t find their missing spouse is because the ambulance rig took them away.

In the end, all one can do as a lifeguard is follow your instincts when you’re in that tower and surround yourself with excellent watermen and waterwomen as co-workers.