Married divers stranded at sea for nearly 40 hours detail harrowing rescue off Texas coast

An experienced hubby and woman diver duo who were stranded astatine oversea disconnected the seashore of Texas for astir 40 hours spoke exclusively to "Good Morning America" connected Monday astir their rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Nathan and Kim Maker from Oklahoma were connected a diving travel successful the Gulf of Mexico past Wednesday erstwhile a subordinate of their radical mislaid her grip connected a downline, the enactment divers clasp onto to get to the calmer waters below.

"The existent starts taking her away," Kim Maker recalled of however the ordeal began earlier her hubby raced to prevention the woman.

"I was swimming with everything I had to get her backmost to the line," Nathan Maker said. "And we got her to the line, and I conscionable was wrong arm's reach."

The pistillate made it backmost aboard safely, but amid the chaos, Kim Maker was knocked from the enactment herself, and she and her hubby were swept distant by the current.

"The vessel was getting smaller and smaller and smaller until it was wholly retired of sight," Nathan Maker recounted.

Alone and warring to enactment alive, Nathan Maker said the mates "took inventory of what we had connected america and we tethered ourselves together."

The mates told "GMA" they initially tried to aquatics to an lipid rig successful the distance.

The vessel reportedly searched for the couple, but couldn't find them and alerted the Coast Guard to their disappearance to motorboat a search.

"Because our assemblage temperatures were dropping, we needed to support swimming, oregon we astir apt (would have) frozen to death," Kim Maker said.

Referring to her husband, she added, "He perfectly is the crushed that we're alive, conscionable keeping our spirits up, due to the fact that it would person been truly casual to springiness up."

Eventually, aft much than a time adrift, the mates said they saw and heard rescue planes successful the distance.

"When that level it turned its chemoreceptor towards us, Kim hits SOS connected her (flashlight), and they saw us," Nathan Maker said, noting his woman had learned Morse codification from her father.

Holding backmost tears, Kim Maker recounted, "Just retired of the country of our eyes this speedboat comes conscionable streaming in, and each of a abrupt I tin perceive the voices of Coast Guard guys."

Nathan Maker added, "I truly judge we saw the manus of God that day. And it was the manus of the Coast Guard."

The Coast Guard squad that rescued the mates gave the Makers apparel and sweatshirts retired of their ain lockers upon their rescue.

The mates said they program to dive again, but whitethorn take an country wherever they tin support their oculus connected land.