On July 30th, Marcos Diaz continued his journey from continent to continent as he crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco in 2 hours and 43 minutes in a wetsuit. “We wanted to swim from Morocco to Spain, but there were swimmers scheduled ahead of us and because of the good weather, our budget and logistics for our fourth crossing, we swam the regular Gibraltar course (Spain-Morocco).“

“The weather was very good, but the water was too cold for me to handle 17 – 20°C. My coach wouldn’t let me try it without a wetsuit since we have had some issues in the past with hypothermia.”

After his mid-day start, Marcos took advantage of the currents flowing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea so he pushed a good pace at 80 strokes per minutes. His coach kept him on this pace to the African shores where he finished in 2 hours 41 minutes. Marcos was greeted at the symbolic finish at Playa Chiquita, Tarifa in Morocco.

“Many United Nations officials and other people involved in our project were there at the finish. We received support from the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, who was focused on swimming at a request of the King of Morocco.

Now I have three [swims] down and one very cold one to go.”

He will fly to Moscow for promotional and logistical meetings in mid-August and then fly to New York where he will meet the rest of the team for his crossing between the Diomede Islands of Russia and the United States.

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