Nyad Abandons Florida Strait Swim

The U.S. Diana Nyad gave up today on her attempt to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys, after more than two days of difficult battle against storms and jellyfish.

Nyad, 62, was taken out of the water at 7:42 local time, according to her website, abandoning for a fourth time her ambition to swim the Florida Straits, which separate the two countries.

Nyad launched her 166 kilometer crossing on Saturday from Havana, without protective shark cage, and swam for more than 48 hours, in addition to facing exhaustion, jellyfish, a night storm and possible shark attacks.

“Diana lost six hours of progress in the storm last night (Sunday-Monday)”, said the last message posted on her Twitter account, where her team reported on the crossing, marked especially by the impact of jellyfish, stinging her lips, face, hands and neck. (Taken from PL)