Storms, jellyfish thwart swimmer's dream

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Diana Nyad ended her fourth attempt to swim across the Straits of Florida yesterday, her decades-old dream thwarted, more than anything else, by jellyfish.

Storms brewing around her and repeated jellyfish stings forced her out of the water at 12:55 a.m., her crew said. She traveled by boat close to a rocky shoreline in Key West in the afternoon, just over 72 hours after setting out from Cuba. She made a final short swim to a waiting crowd.

"I've been dreaming of this crossing for 35 years now and tried it four times. And should I say that there's no disappointment? No," she said. "I'm not going to get that moment I dreamed of for so long."

Nyad turns 63 today and, all told, logged 41 hours and 45 minutes of swim time. She spent time out of the water during a stormy Sunday night, though that was not acknowledged until yesterday.

Under rules set by the World Open Waters Swimming Association, she could emerge from the water and preserve her chance at a record if her life was in danger.

Her lips swollen from jellyfish stings, she appeared weary as she was helped up from the water at her arrival in Key West, though she insisted her muscles weren't even sore. She was given asthma inhalers, oxygen and an intravenous drip, mostly out of sight of the gathering crowd.

She all but ruled out a fifth try, though she also had ruled out a fourth one after failing last year.

"I'm not a quitter, but the sport and this particular ocean are different than they used to be," she said. "These jellyfish are prolific. And, you know what? To me, there's no joy in that."

Nyad plunged into the water Saturday afternoon in Havana and lasted longer and made it further than on her previous attempts, her team said. She said she had been reduced to tears several times, but turned reflective after arriving in Key West.

"I didn't get that final moment, but what a magnificent experience it all was," she said.