BREAKING: Diana Nyad Completes Historic Havana-Key West Swim Without Shark Cage [View all]

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Source: Associated Press / CBS News

Nyad 1st to Swim to Florida From Cuba Without Cage

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 2, 2013 at 2:02 PM ET


KEY WEST, Florida — Diana Nyad has become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

The 64-year-old Nyad stepped ashore in Key West on Monday just before 2 p.m. EDT, about 53 hours after she began her swim in Havana on Saturday.

As she approached the shore, spectators surrounded her in the water, taking pictures and cheering her on. She swam within a couple dozen feet of the beach and walked on to dry land. She looked dazed and sunburned.

It was Nyad's fifth try to complete the approximately 110-mile swim. She tried three times in 2011 and 2012. She had also tried in 1978.



Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau, via Associated Press

Diana Nyad, positioned about two miles from the coast of Key West, Fla. as she nears the completion of her 110 mile swim from Cuba on Monday.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/09/02/us/ap-cuba-swimming-to-florida.html

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@CBSNews: On her 5th try, @diananyad completes historic swim from Cuba to Florida http://t.co/YHyhPtvttL

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57600985/nyad-completes-historic-cuba-key-west-swim/

Diana Nyad completes historic Havana-Key West swim

September 02, 2013

KEY WEST, Florida U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad's completed a historic Havana-Key West swim on her fifth attempt, 35 years after her first try.

Nyad's journey began Saturday morning when she jumped from the seawall of the Hemingway Marina into the warm waters off Havana. She has been swimming the Florida Strait ever since, stopping from time to time for nourishment.

Around 11 a.m. on Monday, mere miles from Florida, Nyad called her support boats over and said she had "bad abrasions" in her mouth from her jellyfish-protection mask, according to her team.

While treading water, she said: "I am about to swim my last two miles in the ocean. This is a lifelong dream of mine and I'm very very glad to be with you. Some on the team are the most intimate friends of my life and some of you I've just met. But I'll tell you something, you're a special group. You pulled through; you are pros and have a great heart. So let's get going so we can have a whopping party."