Diana Nyad is a 62-year old woman on a mission to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. The determined distance swimmer hit some rough obstacles including summer storms at jellyfish stings, but they didn't stop her.
Nyad is on her fourth attempt to complete the 103-mile swim across the Straits of Florida. If she finishes, she'll be the first person to complete the swim without a shark cage.
She is being followed by boats of people who are supporting Nyad while providing updates on her progress.
On Sunday, Nyad's swim became more difficult when "all hell broke loose," her support team tweeted.
"There is lots of lightning out there and the storm is blowing right on top of Diana," a blog post said early Monday. Nyad had to adjust her course and move northwest to find a way out of it. Despite having to deal with the storm, Nyad is safe and said she was "feeling strong."
One thing Nyad didn't have to deal with during the storm was jellyfish. During her first night in the water, she was stung at least four times are her lips, forehead, hands and neck. The stings are from box jellyfish, according to her blog.
With calmer waters and no jellyfish in sight, Nyad's journey was a bit easier on Monday.
"Today is more like swimming," one member quoted her as saying, via Twitter. "I don't know what you would call last night ... probably surviving."
Nyad began her journey in the waters off Havana, Cuba on Saturday morning. By Monday morning, she swam 34 miles of the 103-mile journey. She's swimming at a pace of 50 strokes per minute. If successful, the trip to Key West, Florida should take Nyad 60 hours.
She started her journey a day earlier than planned because water conditions looked good and promising.
Nyad first attempted the swim in 1978, however rough waters left her delirious and exhausted less than halfway throught. She attempted the swim again twice last year. The first time, she suffered from an asthma attack 11 hours in and Portuguese Man-of-War stings got the best of her the second time.
Nyad seems more confident about this latest attempt. "I'm feeling tremendous inner pressure that this has got to be it, this has got to be the last time," she said at a press conference before the journey.
If she completes the journey, Nyad will have a lot to celebrate during her 63rd birthday on Wednesday.
The 62-year-old has many impressive swims under her belt. She won several marathons in the 1970's and she was one of the first women to swim around Manhattan in New York City. She's also a record holder for the world's longest ocean swim of 102.5 miles from the island of Bimini in the Bahamas to Jupiter, Florida.
Australian swimmer Susie Maroneymade the swim along the Straits of Florida in 1997, but she used a cage. Another Australian, Penny Palfrey attempted to make the swim this June, but she quit after 79 miles.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
