Cuba-to-Florida swimmer on third day after stormy night

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad adjusts her swimming cap as a woman applies a protective ointment to her skin as she prepares to jump into the water and start her swim to Florida from Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. / AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa

(CBS/AP) KEY WEST, Florida - Diana Nyad slogged across the Straits of Florida for a third straight day Monday, advancing toward a swimming record on calm seas after enduring a night of stormy weather.

Nyad, who turns 63 on Wednesday, is making her third attempt since last summer to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. She also made a failed try with a cage in 1978.

"She's doing well," a spokeswoman for the swimmer, Alex Crotin, said Monday afternoon.

Watch: Diana Nyad swimming from Cuba in fourth try
Watch: Exercise counselor on Nyad: This is her Mt. Everest

(Watch CBS "This Morning" Correspondent Tammy Leitner report on the progress of Nyad's swim Monday morning.)

Nyad had been expected to arrive somewhere in the Florida Keys early Tuesday, though her team didn't say how much overnight storms Sunday might delay her. Her team tweeted that a storm had blown Nyad off course and that "all hell broke loose" in the squall.

Monday appeared to be offering far more ideal conditions, with blue skies and level seas.

Nyad's team tweeted Monday morning that she was "swimming strong" in calm seas at 50 strokes per minute. She hit the 48-hour mark in the water on Monday afternoon; she estimated it would take at least 60 hours to reach Florida.

Australian Susie Maroney successfully swam the Straits in 1997, but she used a cage. In June, another Australian, Penny Palfrey, made it 79 miles (127 kilometers) toward Florida without a cage before strong currents forced her to abandon the attempt.

Jellyfish stings forced Nyad to cut short her second of two attempts last year as toxins built up in her system. CBS "This Morning" reports that she is wearing a special suit to protect her from jellyfish this time around, but already endured stings on her lips and forehead.

Nyad has been training for three years for the feat. She's accompanied by a support team in boats and a kayak-borne apparatus shadowing Nyad helps keep sharks at bay by generating a faint electric field that is not noticeable to humans. A team of handlers is always on alert to dive in and distract any sharks that make it through.

She takes periodic short breaks to rest, hydrate and eat high-energy foods such as peanut butter.

[AnnieDanny]

I remember when she tried this before. I have to admire the guts to do it, that's for sure, even if I don't fully understand why.

I hope she makes it this time. Seems as if it's going well.

[Ricardovasquez1]

Cuban exile millionaire offers to pay for statue of Lindsay Lohan in Irish city that wants to honor Guevara

(MIAMI) A reclusive Florida-based businessman who is angered by the decision of an Irish city council to erect a statue of Che Guevara is attempting to ridicule the decision by offering to fund the installation of a monument to movie star Lindsay Lohan, saying that her links to Galway are stronger than those of Guevara.
Florida-based philanthropist and Cuban exile Elviro Sanchez made the offer today after being informed that moves to erect the Guevara statue in Galway, Ireland are to proceed next month when the City Council meets to vote on the matter.
The decision to honor Guevara has led to a barrage of criticism from prominent US and Irish politicians, with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, currently the most senior Republican woman in the U.S. House, directly contacting Irish prime minister Enda Kenny about the matter.
She was supported by Congressman David Rivera in opposing the statue which has been approved in principle by the Galway council.
However fruit plantation millionaire Sanchez who fled Casto's Cuba with his three brothers has said that he is incensed by the decision of the Council and said that if they can truly justify the Guevara decision on the grounds of genealogy, celebrity, and cost, then he will test their resolve with the offer of funding for a statue of colorful actress Lohan, whose father Michael was born in Galway.
In a statement released through his Orlando spokesman, he confirmed the offer was genuine and mail offers were being forwarded to the Galway council this week. "Yes, I am mocking the ridiculous senseless decision to honour Guevara but my offer to find the Lohan statue is genuine. I am hoping this will be placed on the agenda of their next meeting. I have contacted some councillors who are opposed to the Guevara statue and they are to help facilitate this being tabled at the next meeting, so that both statues will be discussed on the same night.
"I am confident that sufficient support will be forthcoming for my offer, even if the Guevara decision goes ahead," he said, adding that he has been vociferous in his opposition to the Guevara plan, as well as being in contact with the Irish government and Ms Ros-Lehtinen's office.
"My researchers have discovered that Ms Lohan's connections with Galway are stronger than those of Che Guevara. Also, they have noted that her celebrity is greater because she has five times as many mentions on Google as Guevara, so the connection, the celebrity and the funding are in place," he said.
"Now it is a matter of seeing if my offer will be tabled and accepted by the council members."
Sanchez fled Cuba with his three brothers and all three worked on the family fruit plantation business before selling it to transnational Hazlo for $800million in 2006.