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Diaz completes another continental swim
posted on: Jun 11 2010 13:3 by Royston. Viewed 420 times.
The Dominican swimmer Marcos Diaz yesterday crossed the Red Sea between Jordan and Egypt in the second leg of his attempt to swim between the five continents to promote the Millennium Development Goals of the UN. 
Diaz writes in his diary, "I started at 8:27 am this morning and finished the 18.3K swim in 4 hours and 54 minutes. I swam almost all the entire way under swimming pool conditions: flat and glassy with almost no wind. This was a very unusual day. Although conditions were great and I felt strong, the finish line was moved several time during the swim. So when I reached the shores of Egypt, I had to swim parallel to the shore, just 25 meters from the beach, for 50 minutes until the new finish. But the water was great and I think this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever swum"
The swimmer was met by the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Egypt, Maria Gabriella Bonetti and military and sports authorities.
The athlete was initially expected to swim from Asia to Africa by swimming from the coast of Yemen to the beaches of Djibouti, but the activity of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden forced him to change the route.
Diaz completed the first leg of his journey on 13 May going from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia, which took 4 hours and 18 minutes.
The swimmer took advantage of his stay in Jordan to visit a Palestinian refugee camp and attend a university forum for Syrian, Iraqi, Jordanian and Palestinians to fight AIDS, one of the eight Millennium Development Goals of the UN.
After completing the second stage, Diaz will return to the Dominican Republic and try to cross the Straits of Gibraltar between 21st July and early August.
He faces his last transcontinental swim in August, crossing the Bering Strait from Russia to the nearby island of Little Diomede, Alaska (USA).
However, his challenge will conclude in New York in September, coinciding with the holding of a summit on the Millennium Development Goals of the UN.
To mark the occasion, he will swim from the shore of the Hudson River in Manhattan's West Side, to the UN headquarters, located in the east of the island.
Diaz' initiative seeks to promote the eight Millennium Goals, including the halving of extreme poverty by 2015, universal primary education and reducing child mortality.
Http://iswimwithmarcos.com/app/en/marcosdiaz.aspx
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