[ Breaking news update 11:35 p.m. ] . Diana Nyad has broken swimmer Penny Palfrey 's 2012 distance record in the Cuba to Florida swim , putting her closer to Key West than anyone has ever swum without a shark cage . [ Original story last posted at 10:18 p.m. ] . Diana Nyad better than halfway through Cuba-to-Florida swim . Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad was better than halfway across the strait separating Cuba from the Florida Keys on Sunday on her fifth attempt to make it across the channel , her support team reported . After more than 30 hours in the water , the 64-year-old Nyad was more than 63 miles north of the marina where she began Saturday morning . `` This is farther than she has gone in any previous attempt , '' team navigator John Bartlett wrote on Nyad 's website . `` Her path is only 5 miles to the east of a straight line from Marina Hemingway to Key West , thanks to a favorable Gulf Stream . '' Nyad was still `` swimming strongly '' at just over 1.5 mph -- but averaging about 2 mph thanks to that favorable current , Bartlett wrote . Later , her handler said that Nyad was feeling strong and coherent . `` She is joking for the first time all day , '' wrote Bonnie Stoll on the same website . `` The only concern is that she is throwing up everything she eats . She 's quite nauseous from sea salt , but that 's to be expected , '' said Stoll . `` We 're giving her enough calories and nutrition . We 're just going to keep feeding her , and we hope that some of it is going down . She 's not weak . Her stroke count has n't changed . '' Nyad is attempting to become the first person to swim the 103 miles without the benefits of a shark cage , flippers or wet suit . She 's said it will be her last attempt at that mark , after previous attempts that were thwarted by dehydration , ocean currents and excruciating jellyfish stings to her tongue . This time , she 's wearing a specially designed prosthetic face mask to prevent the jellyfish stings . `` It took us a year ; we made mold after mold , '' Nyad said of the mask , adding it was the kind used to protect people who had suffered injuries to their faces . `` It 's a two-edged sword for me . It 's cumbersome , it 's difficult to swim with , but it does n't matter . I am safe . There 's no other way . '' She jumped into the water at 8:59 a.m. Saturday . Were Nyad to swim the 103 miles , it would validate her attempts , which have spanned 35 years . In 1997 , Australian endurance swimmer Susie Maroney , then 22 , completed the swim from within a shark cage . Along with the protection the cage offers against toothy predators , swimmers say the cage provides a barrier against waves and other weather hazards . Since Maroney 's swim , some of the world 's best endurance swimmers have tried to cross the straits of Florida without using a cage . All have been turned back , though Australia 's Penny Palfrey made it 80 miles in 2012 before unfavorable currents forced her to quit . But few have done so as persistently or as colorfully as Nyad . The Los Angeles resident says she feels a special bond with Cubans and hopes her repeated efforts to swim between the two countries will help improve the still-tense relations between Havana and Washington . Nyad is being accompanied by a 35-member crew aboard two sail boats . They monitor her health , update her progress on social media and try to ward off sharks that might view her as a potential snack . If all goes as planned , Nyad said , the swim will take her three days to finish .
Stoll is `` feeling strong ... joking for the fifth time all day , '' says her handler . She hopes to swim 1.5 mph from Florida to the Florida Keys . It 's her first attempt in 35 years and will be her last , she says . If she 's successful , she 'll be the first person to do so without a shark cage , flippers or wet suit .