A decade after swimming nonstop for more than two straight days from Cuba to Florida, Diana Nyad has returned to the Key West beach where she completed her epic journey.
In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Diana Nyad, left, her expedition leader Bonnie Stoll, right, and staff from the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital watch"Rocky," a rehabilitated green sea turtle, crawl into the Atlantic Ocean Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, from a beach in Key West, Fla. The turtle release was part of a weekend 10th anniversary celebration commemorating Nyad's successful 2013 swim from Cuba to Key West, ending at the same beach.
On Labor Day 2013, nearly 2,000 people had lined the beach to welcome Nyad as she came ashore after her 111-mile odyssey, a nonstop swim lasting 52 hours and 54 minutes across the Florida Straits from Havana. She joined personnel from the Turtle Hospital to carry Rocky across the sand on Sunday to the water’s edge.
Rescued in January by Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officers and transported to the hospital, Rocky required an eight-hour intestinal surgery, breathing treatments, a blood transfusion and months of medications to survive.