[ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. welcome back to early start, everyone. it took five tries, but diana nyad did it. doing what many said she couldn t do. i was one of them. i said it wasn t possible. she did it, all alone, just with her body, no shark cage or nothing. we have the story. reporter: neither fatigue or jellyfish could stop her from accomplishing her dream. she stepped on the shores of key west after swimming 103 miles from cuba to florida. she was exhausted, but in high spirits. my man tra was to find a way. find a way. i just said forget about the
sharks. these are great waters for sharks. lee is the team s chief shark diver. he knows how dangerous sharks can be. in this water we d look for oceanic white tips, caribbean resharks. this animal has involved to dominate the ocean. they have a sixth sense. they can feel the electricity in the water. they know that we re there. that s why in 1978 diana swam in a shark cage. today she just uses this. sharks are tremendously sensitive to this. it s called a shark shield. and off the coast of the bahamas, tippo shows us how it works. it s a shark feeding frenzy at this block of chum, until tippo approaches and turns on the shark shield that hangs right above it.
attempted four times before. diana pulling off a treacherous 110 mile swim from havana to key west. the 64-year-old break ago record becoming the first person to swim this stretch without a shark cage. once on shore she appeared dazed exhausted and swollen managed to thank her supporters with a message of persistence. we should never ever give up. you are never too old to chase your dreams. with a leap and a splash she jumped in setting off for cuba on saturday. the punishing swim took her 53 hours. it looks like a solitaire resport b solitaire ry sport but it s a team. her message has been inspiring for well wishes. her first attempt came in 1978.
what was it like? it was exciting. five tries. we re watching diana nyad land there. she swam without the shark cage and the wet suit and flippers, 103 miles. 53 hours in the water. this was her message when she spoke to cnn this morning. i think i m a person who represents a, you never give up. you find way. if something really is important to your heart, you look and see what s inside yourself and you find a way. i m also 64. a lot of this country are baby boomers. i think people are looking to me so say hell no, i m not old. when i m 90 i ll get in a rocking chair and look at the sunset. she makes the rest of us feel terrible. slackers. she said she s done with swimming in the ocean but not
american public on the stakes for the united states. thank you very much. dan, matt, appreciate it. diana nyad continues to receive a lot of accolades for the amazing swim record she set. the longest distance swim from cuba to florida and she did it without a shark cage and she got stung all over her face by jellyfish and during the trek she had to deal with current shipping lanes, reefs, swarms of jellyfish and her own body. here s what sanjay gupta told us. someone described it to me, sara, he s literally racing against her own body. because as much as she would try to keep up with nutrition and hydration when you re swimming for that length of time it s impossible to do so, so you essentially start digesting your own body if you will just in order to get to to in this case florida, key west. that brings me to tonight s number, five, that was diana s fifth attempt at the record, for the past three years she s tried and failed to accomplish this feat over and over again but