On her fourth attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, Diana Nyad is pulling out the stops. On her support team, there are four jellyfish imaging specialists from the world-renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.

“We have a variety of visible and invisible photographic imaging equipment that can detect jellyfish in the water,” explained Mike McCartney.

The four-person team (Adam Sarafian, Mathhew Weeks, Lily Bieber-Ham, and McCarthey) will be positioned in a boat that runs ahead of Nyad. The quartet will be particularly attentive during the dusk to dawn hours when Nyad has previously encountered the venomous creatures.

The high-tech imaging system is a form of an early detection system. If the team identifies jellyfish as the lead boat, Nyad’s escort boat is alerted. Nyad can swim around the jellyfish bloom or somehow otherwise avoid the jellyfish, her greatest bane in the Florida Straits.

Nyad will also utilize the services of Luke Tipple as head of her shark diving team. Both teams (the jellyfish detection team from Woods Hole and the 5-person shark team from Key West, Florida) will be communicating and coordinating throughout her swim among the 5-boat flotilla.

Photo by Christi Barli. Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source