PhotoBlog - florida-straits

Aug

2012

12:50am, EDT

Christi Barli / AFP - Getty Images

Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad jumps into the water in Havana, Cuba, Aug. 18, to start a more-than-100-mile trip across the Florida Straits to the Florida Keys. Nyad, who turns 63 on August 22, set off on her fourth attempt to swim the treacherous waters from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.

Nyad back in water in Cuba-Florida record swim try

In the summer of 2010, unfavorable weather kept her from even setting out. Last year, first a debilitating asthma attack and then painful, dangerous jellyfish stings forced her from the water on two separate attempts.

This time Nyad is banking on a custom-made swimsuit to protect her from the jellyfish. It covers her head-to-toe with a pantyhose face and holes only for the eyes, nose and mouth.

-- Reported by the Associated Press

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