Australian Woman Becomes First to Swim From Cuba to Florida

KEY WEST, Fla. — Battling nausea, stinging jellyfish, high seas and hallucinations of monkeys, an Australian swam 118 miles from Cuba to Florida on Monday to become the first person known to have crossed the shark-infested straits.

About 4 1/2 hours after 22-year-old Susie Maroney finished, she fainted on live television while talking to reporters on the beach. Her doctor said she was dehydrated. She quickly regained consciousness and returned to her hotel room to rest.

She swam for 24 1/2 hours inside a 28-foot-by-8-foot shark-proof cage before climbing out of the surf at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in the Florida Keys, badly sunburned and covered with welts from jellyfish stings.

“It was the best feeling in the world. I was so glad to touch sand,” she said. “Definitely, your dreams can come true.”

“So many times you think, ‘I just don’t want to keep going,’ ” she said. “The hardest part was the night. It was so lonely. I was being stung by jellyfish.”

Maroney’s trip began at about noon EDT Sunday, when she jumped into the water at Havana’s Malecon sea wall. The 5-foot-6, 127-pound marathon swimmer was helped by a swift current and relatively good weather but had to contend with 15-foot seas.

She said she replayed in her head episodes of “Seinfeld” and her favorite pop songs to keep her spirits up. “I thought I saw monkeys hanging on the cage,” Maroney said. “I sang songs, happy ones, you know, like Madonna’s.”

Maroney took brief breaks once an hour, drinking sports drinks and eating baby food with yogurt and bananas.

She attempted the crossing last June, covering 107 miles in 38 1/2 hours, but gave up 12 miles short of her goal because of seasickness and dehydration.