California couple on honeymoon in Hawaii claimed that a snorkeling group abandoned them in the sea for over an hour. They eventually had to swim to shore.
Alexander Burckle and Elizabeth Webster, their husband, described the horrific Sept. 23, 2021 ordeal in a federal suit filed last month. According to the suit, the couple was one of 44 passengers who set off from Lahaina Harbor at ten o’clock in order to sail Maui’s Lanai Coast snorkel trip.
The group was due to return to the harbor at 3 p.m.
According to the lawsuit, the captain told everyone that the boat would be anchored at the same location for approximately an hour before moving on. Burckle and Webster said that the captain didn’t give an exact time for everyone to return on the boat.
The 44 passengers entered the water at 10:50 a.m. Burckle, his wife and experienced snorkelers, went north following instructions from the captain.
According to the lawsuit, passengers returned to their boats at various times during the excursion.
Burckle and Webster began to return to the boat around 11:50 a.m. According to the lawsuit, the water was becoming choppy. After about 15 minutes of swimming, the couple realized that they had not progressed towards the boat.
The suit stated that the water was “choppy” and plaintiffs began to swim more aggressively towards Vessel. “At 12:20 p.m., the Vessel was visible. After another 15 minutes (approx. “At approximately 12:20 p.m., after another 15 minutes (approx.) of aggressive swimming the Vessel was clearly further from Plaintiffs that it was the last time they had checked.”
They signaled their distress to the boat and asked for help. The boat moved on to its next location.
According to the lawsuit, Burckle and his wife tried swimming in the same direction as the boat, but the water was getting deeper. It said that they panicked as they tried to swim in the ocean conditions.
They were about half a mile away from the shore when they feared that they would drown.
The suit stated that the Pleintiffs had realized that the Vessel had abandoned them and wasn’t coming back for them. They decided that the only way to survive was to return to the shore. “Plaintiffs were very fearful and anxious about this decision, as they were informed in safety briefing that they should not swim to Lanai or to shallow reefs in the vicinity.
According to the suit, they reached shore at 1 p.m., noting that they were tired and dehydrated. A resident of the island helped them.
According to the suit, a passenger aboard the boat attempted to tell a crewmember that Burckle and his wife had gone further out into the ocean during the excursion. However, the crew member allegedly said that the couple had returned.
In the document, it also claimed that the crew had miscounted everyone who returned from snorkeling. A crew member counted 42 passengers during an initial count. A second count was done by the crew member and it allegedly included 44 passengers. However, the passengers on the tour claimed that they were walking and weren’t told to stop while the crew member counted.
Burckle and Webster couldn’t be reached at the phone numbers provided for them. They are suing them for negligence and emotional distress.
Sail Maui didn’t immediately respond to a Saturday request for comment.
