The difference between snorkelling and SCUBA diving is like night and day. Snorkelling can be done by inexperienced tourists on an island hopping trip, by clumsy grandmas looking for adventure, and even by young kids. SCUBA diving on the other hand requires heavy equipment, some formal training, and some degree of physical ability. The STEPDive system hopes to provide its users a taste of real diving, with the ease of snorkelling. The system is simple: it’s a snorkel attached to a 5 meter long hose, whose open end stays on the surface thanks to a floating buoy. 5 meters is a decent depth to explore and opens a ton of possibilities not normally available to casual snorkelers, without subjecting them to the rigours of learning SCUBA. The issue? Well… it’s kind of expensive, costing an eye-watering €430 ($457USD) super early bird pricing, and going up to €613 ($678USD) Early Bird and €700 ($774USD) (!) regular retail price. And the campaign funding its production is far from having reached its goal. Despite that, we think it’s a great product and we’re kind of hoping some enthusiasts will jump in.
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You may want to change your description to clarify that this is NOT a long snorkel, this is a scuba diving regulator attached to an air tank floating in the buoy. Commonly known as “SNUBA” since this is really not a new thing.
I just wanted to point that out because what you have described would actually kill a person if they tried to use it. Firstly, human lungs could never suck air down under water through 5 meters of hose. Secondly, even if they could, they would exhale into the hose and then breathe in the same air, and would be breathing in the CO2 they just exhaled.