A couple claiming they were left stranded in the ocean off a Hawaiian island, forcing them to swim half a mile to land, is suing a Hawaii tour company.

Alexander Burckle and his wife, Elizabeth Webster, who had snorkeled before, have filed a lawsuit against Sail Maui. They had joined 42 other passengers for a snorkeling trip in September 2021 that left Lahaina Harbor in Maui. They claim in the lawsuit that the passengers were informed the boat would remain anchored for an hour in the first ocean location before it sailed on, as the passengers were permitted to swim in the ocean. Passengers returned to the boat at different times, according to the lawsuit, which said the waves were eight feet high.

“It can be really rough water even for people that are experienced in the ocean, much less visitors who may not have any ocean experience or especially not have experience in Hawaiian waters,” the couple’s attorney, Jared A. Washkowitz, told Buzzfeed News.

The lawsuit states that one passenger reported the couple missing when she reboarded the boat, but a crew member said the couple was aboard. The suit alleges three head counts were made, and the first two numbered 42 passengers but the third numbered 44 as the first mate did not make the passengers remain still, instead counting them as they wandered about.

“Plaintiffs realized the Vessel had left them and was not coming back for them, and they decided that their only option for survival at that point was to return to shore,” the lawsuit claims, adding that the couple “were beginning to panic and were struggling to swim in the ocean conditions.”

The couple swam for half a mile to the island of Lanai, the lawsuit states, fatigued and dehydrated, managing to write “SOS” and “HELP” in the sand.

 Local residents then came to their aid. The lawsuit claims that when the couple contacted the tour company, no one was aware they had gone missing.

“It’s kind of scary to think what would’ve happened if they hadn’t made it,” Washkowitz said. “I’m not sure the company would’ve known about it until family members started asking about it. It’s just kind of a scary thought.”

“They’re not giving any statements because they don’t want to have to relive the incident over and over again,” he added. “They’re both getting psychological treatment. They have anxiety and stress from the incident, and they’re coping the best they can.”

Jessica Herbert, a fellow passenger on the snorkeling tour, told Good Morning America that the crew members of the boat told guests “everybody was on … All accounted for, we started to take off, nobody’s looking behind them.”

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis slammed California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday while visiting the state for his speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

“I knew you guys got a lot of problems out here, but your governor is very concerned about what we’re doing in Florida, so I figured I had to come by,” DeSantis said at the start of his speech.

The speech centered around his top-selling new book, “The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” and his vision for the country.

The Sacramento Bee reported that there were high-profile attendees in the audience for the speech, including former Governor Pete Wilson and actor Gary Sinise. Fox News reported that more than 1,300 people attended the event.

“I think if you look over the last four or five years, and you look at the performances of individual states, and you compare Florida versus California, New York, Illinois, some of those other states, we have had a great experiment, a great test in governing philosophies,” DeSantis said. “Because, of course, you know, we approach things much differently in Florida than you guys have out here, much differently in Florida than they’ve done in New York and in Illinois.”

“And if you look over the last four years, we’ve witnessed a great American exodus from states governed by leftist politicians imposing leftist ideology and delivering poor results, and you’ve seen massive gains in states like Florida, who are governing according to the tried and true principles that President Reagan held dear,” he continued. “From the beginning of this state’s history, all the way until the last four or five years, people beat a path to California. You didn’t beat a path away from California. And yet now, you see the state hemorrhaging population.”

DeSantis also took a shot at Newsom over how California was managed during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I can tell you, we had families move from the Pacific coast just for the fact that we had schools open in Florida, when you didn’t have them open in many other states,” he said. “We did things like ban vaccine passports in the state of Florida. States said, ‘You want to go stay in a hotel, go to a restaurant, you got to cough up your vax papers on these mRNA shots.’ And we said that’s none of their business. Everyone has a right to participate in society. That’s a personal choice that you make whether to take that or not, and we’re not going to let you be excluded.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

“Now, what ended up happening because we did that, one of the things that ended up happening was in 2021, Florida set a record for domestic tourism,” he said. “If you compare the change in tourism in California from 2019 to 2021, California tourism declined by 22%.”

DeSantis later slammed the ideology behind politicians like Newsom. “I think these liberal states have gotten it wrong and why are they getting it wrong? I think it all goes back to ideology,” he said. “And it goes back to this woke mind virus that’s infected the left and all these other institutions. I mean, think about the way they have governed their states.”

Politico reported last week that given how the race for the Republican Party presidential nomination is shaping up, California would likely play a key role in determining who becomes the party’s nominee.