I also read in articles that they said the sailboat was being attacked by 30 tiger sharks. I realize that it is easy to fall into hyperbole and tall tales but tiger sharks don’t grow to 30 feet in length. 
The pics that I saw really don’t tell the story of two women and their dogs lost at sea. They looked to be the picture of health and anxious to pose for the photo op. I don’t understand either – what was the objective?
Fake news?
Can they be checked for signs of scurvy? Or did they have canned citrus, or vitamin C tablets?
The story indeed has many holes, but I don’t know if we will know the answers. I did see this article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/pets/sns-bc-us–lost-at-sea-rescued-20171101-story.html