HAVANA -- A 61-year-old American endurance swimmer embarked on her second attempt in two months to swim between Cuba and Florida early Saturday.
Diana Nyad hopes to break her own world record for open water swimming without a shark cage that she set in 1979 after crossing from the Bahamas to Florida.
Before she set off on the 103-mile journey, she wrote on her Xtreme Dream blog, "This weekend is my magical moment. I can't imagine any other ending than making it to the other shore."
Nyad, who is hoping to reach Florida by Monday, suffered multiple Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish stings early in her journey and had to receive medical treatment, but carried on, according to her blog.
She was forced to abandon her August record attempt after being dragged off course by strong currents. She had made a previous attempt at the crossing in 1978.
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