A California couple honeymooning in Hawaii said a snorkeling tour group abandoned them in the ocean for more than an hour, ultimately forcing them to swim to shore.
Elizabeth Webster and her husband, Alexander Burckle, detailed the terrifying Sept. 23, 2021, ordeal in a federal lawsuit filed last month. The couple was among 44 passengers embarking from Lahaina Harbor at 10 a.m. for Sail Maui's Lanai Coast snorkel tour, the suit stated.
The group was scheduled to return to the harbor around 3 p.m.
The couple said in the lawsuit that the captain informed everyone that the boat would remain anchored in the location for about an hour before moving on to a second location. Webster and Burckle said that the captain did not give a specific time everyone should be back on the boat.
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All 44 passengers entered the water around 10:50 a.m. Burckle and his wife, both experienced snorkelers who had been to Maui several times, swam north as the captain instructed.
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