Swimmer Gives Up Cuba to Florida Bid

HAVANA TIMES, August 9 — Diana Nyad gave up her attempt to swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida early Tuesday after 29 hours and reaching about half the 103-mile (166 km) crossing.

Having left Sunday evening from the Marina Hemingway in Havana the 61-year-old woman was trying to do what no one has… swim the Florida Strait without a cage to protect her from sharks.

“I am not sad. It was absolutely the right call,” CNN quoted her as saying.  She was brought aboard one of the accompanying boats vomiting at 12:45 a.m.

To protect her, Nyad’s escort vessels included specially equipped kayaks transmitting an electronic signal that is annoying to the sharks.

This was the second time that Nyad tried to cross the Strait, having reached 76 miles in 42 hours back in 1978.

Australian Susan Maroney, then 22, became the first and only person to cross the Florida Straight from Cuba (1997), although she did it protected by a cage.