By Beagle, Our News Hound
waterhead.com
October 4, 2011

It's a 103-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. The tropical waters between the southern tip of the continental United States and the largest of the Caribbean islands are some of the most beautiful in the world. People come from across the globe to vacation, to take cruises, to swim in the clear blue waters of the West Indies. But only one person in recorded history has ever completed the swim from Cuba to Florida, and no one has ever done it without the protection of a shark cage.

Those beautiful, warm waters are inviting to boaters and vacationers. They're lovely to take a swim in, to scuba dive in, to float across on a cruise ship. But when you're faced with the prospect of swimming straight across over 100 miles from Cuba to Florida, those waters go from stunning to treacherous.

First and most inescapably, there is the distance. Imagine the endurance, the fitness, the physical commitment it would take to walk a distance of 103 miles nonstop. Think of how far away that finish line would seem as you passed the first mile, the second mile, the tenth mile. Think of how your muscles would burn, how your joints would ache with each step. Think of the time it would take to cross that distance.

But remember, also, that you can always stop and take a seat for a few minutes. You can catch your breath, get back up and keep right on walking. In the water things aren't quite that easy.

A walk of 103 miles is a daunting prospect to most of us. Even most professional athletes would need time to prepare for such a feat. Now imagine crossing 103 miles not over dry land on your feet, but through the open waters of the Caribbean. Swimming is one of the most physically demanding exercises possible. It taxes every part of your body: your arms, your legs, your head, your lungs and your heart. Competing as a professional swimmer requires world-class fitness and endurance, and swimming for recreation is one of the best ways to get into shape and stay that way.

It is not, however, a very appealing mode of travel. One of the main reasons why no one has ever managed to make the 103 mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage is very simply that the sheer distance is too far for most people to even consider the attempt. Think of how exhausting the 103-mile walk would be. Now imagine taking that same walk, using every muscle in your body, and never being able to fully relax. Even if you stopped swimming for a few minutes, you would still have to keep your head above water. Jump in the water off the coast of Cuba, and you would be guaranteed no rest until Florida, unless you gave up.

Beyond the immense, punishing distance of the swim, there is also that beautiful Caribbean water and the many creatures which inhabit it. The Caribbean is home to thousands and thousands of aquatic species. Not all of these creatures are hospitable to human beings.

There are sharks, of course, as everyone knows. The only person to ever successfully complete this swim, Australian swimmer Susie Maroney, was cautious enough of the danger they posted to conduct her swim from within the safety of a shark cage. But sharks are probably not the most pressing concern. The waters are filled with stinging jelly fish, with stingrays, with bluebottles (also known as the Portuguese Man o' War), and many other creatures capable of biting, stinging, and poisoning a human swimmer. Under safer circumstances, these creatures might not be lethal to humans. But when you are in the fiftieth mile of a 103 mile swim to Florida, a sting from a jellyfish could mean the difference between life and death. Even the slightest disability or loss of concentration could spell disaster.

On top of the distance and the creatures is the weather. The Caribbean boasts some of the nicest weather on Earth, but it is subject to rain, wind and storms just the same as everywhere else. The 103-mile swim will take several days to complete. Will the weather remain ideal from the start through to the finish? Will your swim be complicated by rain, by the wind whipping the sea into a frenzy, by a thunderstorm? The odds that you will have to abandon your swim due to the weather rather than drown are actually fairly high.

But these long odds haven't stopped many from trying. The aforementioned Susie Mahoney accomplished this amazing feat from inside a shark cage in 1996. In 1978 Diana Nyad attempted the swim in a shark cage, but failed. In August of this year, Nyad tried the swim without the cage, but didn't make it. In September, at age 62, Diana Nyad tried it one more time.

Instead of a shark cage, Nyad used a device that created an invisible electrical field around her in the water. This electrical field was harmless to her, but a deterrent to most sharks. She survived by eating food handed to her in the water from a support team on a nearby boat, and drinking high-carbohydrate drinks. While in the water she had to contend with a school of barracuda swimming nearby, and a white tipped shark, apparently not bothered by the electrical field, that had to be scared off by a diver.

Ultimately, it wasn't the sharks or the razor-toothed fish that proved Diana Nyad's downfall. It was the Portuguese Man o' War. The jellyfish-like creatures stung Nyad repeatedly throughout her swim. After stings to her face, she even resorted to fashioning a makeshift mask from her swim cap. Finally, 49 miles into her swim, on the advice of her doctor, Nyad called it quits and climbed aboard her support boat. Another sting from a Man o' War, her doctor said, could have killed her.

Knowing her determination, it's possible Diana Nyad will try yet again to make the swim from Cuba to Florida. If she, or someone else manages to make it and become the first person to swim across the Florida straits nonstop without a shark cage, she will have earned a place among the greatest sports legends who ever lived. Swimming from Cuba to Florida is truly one of the most incredible athletic accomplishments imaginable.

Others who read this article also read Everything You Need To Know About Rowing, People Prefer Yachting as a Lifestyle and Boat Shoes Are Important to Water Safety.

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