Mexico to Cuba


Susie Maroney OAM (born 15 November 1974 in Cronulla, New South Wales), an Australian former marathon swimmer and channel swimmer who was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005 as an Honour Swimmer, is the only person to swim from Isla Mujeres, Mexico to Las Tumbas beach, Cuba across the Yucatan Straits. Her 197 km (122 miles) swim took 38 hours 33 minutes on 1 June 1998. She wore a special Lycra stinger suit and swam much of the swim in a shark cage with a protective jellyfish net to protect against sharks and jellyfish in a solo swim coordinated by Joe Pignatiello.
She had intended to swim a total of 145 miles (233 km) from Isla Mujeres in Mexico to Maria La Gorda in Cuba, but ended on Las Tumbas beach instead.
Susie Maroney Swimming Career[edit]
Susie Maroney is a member of the 24-hour club. Maroney first crossed the English Channel as a 15-year-old swimmer. She later established the world record for a two-way crossing of the English Channel by a female in 17 hours 15 minutes in 1991. She swam around 48 km (28.5 miles) Manhattan Island four times, winning the 1990 (7:00:27) and 1994 Manhattan Island Marathon Swims (7:08:10), and finishing 8th in 1999 (7:15:59) and 4th in 1989 (7:52:13). At the age of 22, she completed a well-publicized 180 km (111.8-mile) swim from Cuba to the USA across the Florida Strait in 24 hours 31 minutes on 12 May 1997, aided by a shark cage covered in mesh in order to keep out the Portuguese man-o-war. She also completed a 160 km (98 mile) 27-hour marathon swim from Jamaica to Cuba on 15 September 1999.
External links[edit]
- Australian completes record Mexico-Cuba swim
- Generous Castro Has Aussie In Tears
- NYC Swim bio
- International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame website
- Updated 24-Hour Club
- Shark Caged In The Ocean
- Women Swimming Circles Around Manhattan Island
- Aussie Rules Swimming, Paul Newsome Carries On
- Susie Maroney Criticized For Cuba-Florida Crossing
- Melissa Cunningham Honored Around The World
- 24-hour Club…Swimming All Day And Night
- Swimming From Country To Country, Continent To Continent