Hawaii snorkeling tour left honeymooners stranded at sea, lawsuit says

As they struggled against choppy waves off the coast of a Hawaiian island, Elizabeth “Bette” Webster and Alexander Burckle made an alarming observation: Their boat was getting farther away.

The couple, who were on their honeymoon in September 2021, were supposed to return to the catamaran to continue a chartered snorkeling tour around the island of Lanai.

Instead, the boat left and abandoned Webster and Burckle in the open ocean a half-mile from shore, they alleged in a lawsuit filed Feb. 21 against Sail Maui, the tour company.

The couple feared for their lives, according the suit, as they battled the surf and swam to Lanai, where they were eventually rescued.

Jared Washkowitz, an attorney representing the couple, said they were lucky to be alive.