Fifth attempt
On the morning of August 31, 2013, Nyad began her fifth bid to swim from Havana, Cuba to Florida, a distance of about 110 miles (177 km), accompanied by a 35-person support team, swimming without a shark cage[35] but protected from jellyfish by a silicone mask, a full bodysuit, gloves and booties.[36] Before reaching Florida, Nyad broke Penny Palfrey's 2012 distance record for the Cuba to Florida swim,[discuss] putting Nyad closer to Key West than anyone swimming without a shark cage.[37] At approximately 1:55 pm EDT on September 2, 2013, Nyad reached the beach in Key West, about 53 hours after she began her journey.[4][36]
While not directly questioning the authenticity of her story, some skeptics, including long-distance swimmers, requested the swim's GPS history, surface current, weather, and Nyad's eating and drinking data to verify that her swim was not assisted.[38][39] The swim's published GPS data was analyzed and graphed on September 8 by The New York Times.[40] After Nyad's September 10 response to questions and her publishing path data and notes from her navigator and two observers, a University of Miami oceanography professor, Tamay Ozgokmen, confirmed the navigator's assertion that favorable Gulf Stream currents explained Nyad's apparently incredible total velocity during certain portions of the swim.[41] The New York Times' public editor observed on September 19 that the focus had shifted from serious questions about possibly resting aboard a boat, to more technical issues relating to whether her crews' touching her while helping with her protective suit formally rendered the swim an "assisted" swim.[42] Nyad had explained that wearing the jellyfish-protection suit was a life-and-death measure that for her superseded the previous "traditions" of the sport.[41]