It's the fifth time I stand on this shore,the Cuban shore, looking out at that distant horizon, believing, again,

that I'm going to make it all the wayacross that vast, dangerous wilderness of an ocean.

Not only have I tried four times, but the greatestswimmers in the world have been trying since 1950, and it's still never beendone.

The team is proud of our four attempts.

It's an expedition of some 30 people.

Bonnie is my best friend and head handler,who somehow summons will, that last drop of will within me, when I think it'sgone, after many, many hours and days out there.

The shark experts are the best in the world-- large predators below.

The box jellyfish, the deadliest venom inall of the ocean, is in these waters, and I have come close to dying from themon a previous attempt.

conditions themselves, besides the sheerdistance of over 100 miles in the open ocean –

the currents and whirling eddies and theGulf Stream itself, the most unpredictable of all of the planet Earth.

And by the way -- it's amusing to me thatjournalists and people, before these attempts, often ask me,

"Well, are you going to go with anyboats or any people or anything?"

And I'm thinking, what are they imagining?That I'll just sort of do some celestial navigation --

And carry a bowie knife in my mouth,

and I'll hunt fish and skin them alive andeat them, and maybe drag a desalinization plant behind me for fresh water.

Yes, I have a team.

And the team is expert, and the team iscourageous, and brimming with innovation and scientific discovery,

as is true ofany major expedition on the planet.

And we've been on a journey.

And the debate has raged, hasn't it, sincethe Greeks, of isn't it what it's all about?

Isn't life about the journey, not reallythe destination?

And here we've been on this journey, andthe truth is, it's been thrilling.

We haven't reached that other shore, andstill, our sense of pride and commitment, unwavering commitment.

When I turned 60, the dream was still alivefrom having tried this in my 20s -- dreamed it and imagined it.

The most famous body of water on the Earthtoday, I imagine, Cuba to Florida.

And it was deep. It was deep in my soul.

When I turned 60, it wasn't so much aboutthe athletic accomplishment, it wasn't the ego of "I want to be thefirst."

That's always there and it's undeniable.

But it was deeper. It was "how muchlife is there left?" Let's face it -- we're all on a one-way street,aren't we?

And what are we going to do?

What are we going to do as we go forward,to have no regrets looking back?

And all this past year in training, I hadthat Teddy Roosevelt quote to paraphrase it, floating around in my brain. Itsays, "You go ahead.

You go ahead and sit back in yourcomfortable chair and you be the critic, you be the observer,

while the brave one gets in the ring andengages

and gets bloody and gets dirty and failsover and over and over again, but yet isn't afraid and isn't timid and liveslife in a bold way."

And so of course I want to make it across.

It is the goal, and I should be so shallowto say that this year, the destination was even sweeter than the journey.

But the journey itself was worthwhiletaking.

And at this point, by this summer,everybody -- scientists, sports scientists, endurance experts, neurologists, myown team, Bonnie -- said it's impossible.

It just simply can't be done, and Bonniesaid to me, "But if you're going to take the journey,

I'm going to see you through to the end ofit, so I'll be there."

And now we're there.

As we're looking out, kind of a surrealmoment before the first stroke, standing on the rocks at Marina Hemingway,

the Cuban flag is flying above, all my teamis out in their boats, hands up in the air, "We're here! We're here foryou!"

Bonnie and I look at each other and say,this year, the mantra is -- and I've been using it in training -- Find a way.

You have a dream and you have obstacles infront of you, as we all do.

None of us ever get through this lifewithout heartache, without turmoil,

and if you believe and you have faith andyou can get knocked down and get back up again and you believe in perseveranceas a great human quality, you find your way.

And Bonnie grabbed my shoulders, and shesaid, "Let's find our way to Florida."

And we started, and for the next 53 hours,it was an intense, unforgettable life experience.

The highs were high, the awe -- I'm not areligious person, but I'll tell you,

to be in the azure blue of the Gulf Streamas if, as you're breathing, you're looking down miles and miles and miles,

to feel the majesty of this blue planet welive on -- it's awe-inspiring.

I have a playlist of about 85 songs, andespecially in the middle of the night ... That night, because we use no lights

-- lights attract jellyfish, lights attractsharks, lights attract baitfish that attract sharks, so we go in the pitchblack of the night. You've never seen black this black.

You can't see the front of your hand, andthe people on the boat, Bonnie and my team on the boat

-- they just hear the slapping of the arms,and they know where I am, because there's no visual at all.

And I'm out there kind of tripping out onmy little playlist.

I've got tight rubber caps, I don't hear athing. I've got goggles and I'm turning my head 50 times a minute, and I'msinging ...

 (Singing)Imagine there's no heaven

doo doo doo doo doo It's easy if you trydoo doo doo doo doo

And I can sing that song a thousand timesin a row.

Now there's a talent unto itself.

And each time I get done with,

 (Singing)Oh, you may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one

 (Singing)Imagine there's no heaven

And when I get through the end of athousand of John Lennon's "Imagine,"

I have swum nine hours and 45 minutes ...exactly.

And then there are the crises. Of coursethere are.

And the vomiting starts, the seawater --you're not well. You're wearing a jellyfish mask for the ultimate protection.

It's difficult to swim in. It's causingabrasions on the inside of the mouth, but the tentacles can't get you.

And the hypothermia sets in. The water's 85degrees, and yet you're losing weight and using calories.

And as you come over toward the side of theboat -- not allowed to touch it, not allowed to get out,

but Bonnie and her team hand me nutritionand ask me how I'm doing, am I all right. I am seeing the Taj Mahal --Overhere.

 I'min a very different state -- And I'm thinking, "Wow! I never thought I'dbe running into the Taj Mahal out here.

It's gorgeous! I mean, how long did it takethem to build that? It's just ... So, uh -- wooo -- you know?

We kind of have a cardinal rule that I'mnever told how far it is, because we don't know how far it is.

What's going to happen to you between thispoint and that point? What's going to happen to the weather and the currents

and, God forbid, you're stung, when youdon't think you could be stung in all this armor.

Bonnie made a decision coming into thatthird morning that I was suffering, and I was hanging on by a thread.

And she said, "Come here," and Icame close to the boat, and she said, "Look, look out there." And Isaw light,

because the day is easier than the night,and I thought we were coming into day. I saw a stream of white light along thehorizon,

and I said, "It's going to be morningsoon."

And she said, "No, those are thelights of Key West."

It was 15 more hours, which for mostswimmers would be a long time.

You have no idea how many 15-hour trainingswims I had done.

So here we go, and I somehow, without adecision, went into no counting of strokes and no singing and no quotingStephen Hawking on the parameters of the universe.

I just went into thinking about this dream,and why and how.

As I said, when I turned 60, it wasn'tabout that concrete "Can you do it?"

That's the everyday machinations. That'sthe discipline, and it's the preparation, and there's a pride in that.

But I decided to think, as I went along,about -- you know, the phrase usually is, "reaching for the stars."And in my case, it's reaching for the horizon.

And when you reach for the horizon, as I'veproven, you may not get there. But what a tremendous build of character andspirit that you lay down;

what a foundation you lay down in reachingfor those horizons.

And now, the shore is coming. And there'sjust a little part of me that's sad.

The epic journey is going to be over.

So many people come up to me now and say,"What's next?"

"We love that!"

"That little tracker on the computer?When are you going to do the next one? We can't wait to follow the nextone."

Well, they were just there for 53 hours,and I was there for years.

And so there won't be another epic journeyin the ocean.But the point is, and the point was, that every day of our livesis epic.

And I'll tell you, when I walked up ontothat beach, staggered up onto that beach ...

I had so many times, in a very puffed-upego way, rehearsed what I would say ...

on the beach. When Bonnie thought the backof my throat was swelling up,

she brought the medical team over to ourboat to say, "She's really beginning to have trouble breathing;

another 12, 24 hours in the saltwater..." -- the whole thing -- I just thought, in my hallucinatory moment,that I heard the word "tracheotomy."

Bonnie said to the doctor, "I'm notworried about her not breathing.

If she can't talk when she gets to theshore, she's going to be pissed off."

But the truth is, all those orations that Ihad practiced, just to get myself through some training swims as motivation --it wasn't like that.

It was a very real moment, with that crowd,with my team.

We did it. I didn't do it. We did it.

And we'll never forget it. It'll always bepart of us.

The three things I did sort of blurt outwhen we got there, was first: Never, ever give up.

I live it. What's the phrase from todayfrom Socrates?

Audience: To be is to do.

Diana Nyad: To be is to do. So I don'tstand up and say, "Don't ever give up."

I didn't give up. There was action behindthese words.

The second is: You can chase your dreams atany age; you're never too old.

Sixty-four; a thing no one, at any age, anygender, could ever do has done it.

And there's no doubt in my mind that I amat the prime of my life today.

And the third thing I said on that beachwas, it looks like the most solitary endeavor in the world, and in many ways,of course, it is.

And in other ways, and the most importantways, it's a team. And if you think I'm a badass, you want to meet Bonnie.

Bonnie, where are you? Where are you?There's Bonnie Stoll.

My buddy.

The Henry David Thoreau quote goes,"When you achieve your dreams, it's not so much what you get as who youhave become in achieving them."

And yeah, I stand before you now.

In the three months since that swim ended,I've sat down with Oprah, and I've been in President Obama's Oval Office;

I've been invited to speak in front ofesteemed groups such as yourselves; I've signed a wonderful major bookcontract.

All of that's great, and I don't denigrateit.

I'm proud of it all, but the truth is, I'mwalking around tall because I am that bold, fearless person,

and I will be, every day, until it's timefor these days to be done.

Thank you very much and enjoy theconference.

Find a way!