The Coast Guard rescued Nathan and Kim Maker, a husband and wife diver duo, Friday after the two spent 36 hours stranded off the coast of Texas.
The two told Good Morning America (GMA) they were on a driving trip in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday when a member of their group “lost her grip on a downline.” (RELATED: Daring Baltic Sea Dive Reveals Shipwreck Stash Of 19th Century Champagne And Wine)
An experienced husband and wife diver duo — who were stranded at sea off the coast of Texas for nearly 40 hours — spoke exclusively to @GMA about their rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard.
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— ABC News (@ABC) July 29, 2024
Nathan dove after her and managed to successfully get the group member reattached to the line, the outlet reported.
“I was swimming with everything I had to get her back to the line,” Nathan told the outlet. “And we got her to the line, and I just was within arm’s reach.” But then the current swept him and his wife away, he added.
“The boat was getting smaller and smaller and smaller until it was completely out of sight,” Nathan told the outlet. He and his wife “took inventory of what we had on us and we tethered ourselves together” to increase their chances of survival. The two tried to swim to an oil rig at first, GMA reported.
The Coast Guard received reports that the couple that disappeared Wednesday afternoon and “were last seen surfacing in unfavorable weather conditions,” according to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard dispatched air and sea resources to search for the couple, the press release says.
Kim told GMA the couple “needed to keep swimming” lest they freeze to death in the cold water. “He [Nathan] absolutely is the reason that we’re alive, just keeping our spirits up, because it would have been really easy to give up,” she said.
After more than a day at sea, Nathan recounted hearing and seeing a rescue planes, the outlet reported. “When that plane it turned its nose towards us, Kim hits SOS on her [flashlight], and they saw us,” Nathan told the outlet. The Coast Guard’s press release confirmed that it was ” a flashing light in the water” that alerted the rescue team to the couple’s location.
“Just out of the corner of our eyes this speedboat comes just streaming in, and all of a sudden I can hear the voices of Coast Guard guys,” Kim told GMA. “I really believe we saw the hand of God that day. And it was the hand of the Coast Guard,” Nathan added.
The Coast Guard said in the press release they searched for the couple over a period of 36 hours. The rescue team gave the couple clothes and sweatshirts to help them warm up, GMA reported.
