The story of Snorkelbuoy® in pictures and video
For video links…. https://youtu.be/H3co3EeDg3s and https://youtu.be/WTc1Up44ou4
On 20th July 2014, my husband and I were snorkeling in the Gulfstream, about 8 miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, in 850 feet of crystal clear, deep blue water. The fish were all around us. It was spectacular. 
As I started swimming back to the boat, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, something shiny and something sinking fast. I was videoing the fish at the time and luckily caught it on tape.
It was my husband’s mask and snorkel – somehow they’d fallen off the boat. I saw my husband trying to dive down to rescue his mask and snorkel, but they were sinking too fast.
He and I (and some bored fish) watch the mask and snorkel sink. The recovery attempt is abandoned.
He wasn’t able to snorkel any more that day, the most perfect flat day with fish everywhere. Not only that, but I had to go and buy him another mask and snorkel, and good ones aren’t cheap.
The following week, while snorkeling again in more or less the same spot, 8 – 10 miles out, in maybe 1000 feet of water, I took off my mask and snorkel while I was fiddling around with my Ikelite camera case. I draped them over my shoulder and concentrated on the task at hand. Before I was even aware of it, my mask and snorkel had drifted away from me and had sunk without a trace. I couldn’t believe it.
Knowing I had to replace my own mask and snorkel, later that day, I went to my local dive shop (a HUGE store), purchased a mask and snorkel and also asked them where I could find a snorkel or mask float – just SOMETHING to stop my mask and snorkel from sinking – they looked at me blankly and said there was no such thing. The manager showed me a neoprene mask strap that would keep my mask floating for maybe 10 seconds, but assured me that it would sink right after that. I was just amazed that nothing like this had been invented, that there really and truly was no way to stop your mask and snorkel from sinking. I also thought that if you were SCUBA diving, and somehow your mask and snorkel got dislodged, I’d wanted a way for them to slowly SLOWLY rise to the surface (not sink into the depths) so that they could easily be retrieved, even while rising to the surface – and if not – then at least you would see them later ON the surface! I went to several other dive shops and scoured the internet – but NOTHING! It was one of those “Eureka” moments. I had accidentally found a huge gap in the market for something I desperately needed, and if I needed it, then surely other people would too. So I decided to invent something. And that’s how Snorkelbuoy® was born.
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