U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad is seen in the water as she leaves the Ernest Hemingway Nautical Club in Havana, Cuba, on Saturday, August 18. The full distance to Key West, Florida, is 103 miles, a trip expected to take Nyad 60 hours if the 62-year-old is successful in her attempt -- her fourth. 
Nyad, left, prepares for her departure. Nyad's first attempt to cross the Straits of Florida was in 1978, when rough seas left her battered, delirious and less than halfway to her goal. 
Nyad gestures before her embarking on her journey. 
After jumping into the waters off Havana on Saturday afternoon -- a day earlier than originally planned -- Nyad had swum nearly 28 statute miles as of Sunday evening, putting in 50 strokes a minute, her blog reported. 
Endurance swimmer Nyad pauses for a rest and hydration with her support crew in the Florida Straits between Cuba and the Florida Keys on Sunday, August 19. 
Nyad braves the water without a shark cage, relying on electronic shark repellent and a team of divers to keep them away. 
After reportedly being stung by a jellyfish, Nyad takes a break. 
Diana Nyad swims off Havana on Saturday, as she begins a more than 100-mile trip across the Florida Straits to the Florida Keys. - Diana Nyad was about halfway between Cuba and Florida early Tuesday, her team says
- A sudden gust of wind blew the swimmer off course Sunday night
- Jellyfish stung her lips, forehead, hands and neck Saturday night
- "She did the Diana Nyad thing and powered through" problems, her operations chief says
Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad is "holding up well" after another heavy squall hampered her quest to swim from Cuba to Florida, her crew said Tuesday.
"Diana is approximately 55 miles off the coast of Key West. Right now, they are waiting out the storm," her website said Tuesday morning. "Everyone is safe. Diana is a little chilly but holding up well."
The fierce winds were just the latest obstacle for the 62-year-old, who is making her fourth attempt to swim across the Straits of Florida.
On Saturday night, her first night on the water, Nyad was stung by jellyfish on her lips, forehead, hands and neck, her blog said.
Swimmer Diana Nyad: I stand here proud 
Nyad: I was naive about jellyfish 
Third time not charm for Diana Nyad 
Nyad: 'It's a hard thing to let go of' "She did the Diana Nyad thing and powered through it," said Mark Sollinger, the swimmer's operations director.
The next night, a sudden squall blew Nyad off course, according to posts on her blog.
"There is lots of lightning out there and the storm is blowing right on top of Diana," a blog post stated early Monday, adding that the swimmer was safe and "feeling strong."
But Nyad and her crew were treated to grand display of dolphins Monday evening.
"There were scores of them; around our boat alone one team member counted 50 playing in the wake, while another looked up to see dozens more leaping above the water," the blog stated. "Dolphins have swum with Diana many times over the years, especially in the 1960s and '70s when the openwaters of the world, both fresh and ocean, were cleaner than now."
Nyad back in water for Cuba-Florida swim attempt
The full distance from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida, is 103 miles.
As of Monday night she had been in the water for 52 hours, the longest time invested in any of the four attempts. She lost six hours to the storm, according to her Twitter feed.
Girl, 14, crosses Lake Ontario
Nyad's first attempt to cross the Straits of Florida was in 1978, when rough seas left her battered, delirious and less than halfway toward her goal.
She tried again twice last year, but her efforts ended after an 11-hour asthma attack and jellyfish stings.
Nyad insisted Friday she was ready to try it again now. "I'm feeling tremendous inner pressure that this has got to be it, this has got to be the last time," she said.
Diana Nyad making fourth attempt at Cuba-to-Florida swim
Nyad is swimming without a shark cage, relying on electronic shark repellent and a team of divers to keep the predators away.
In the 1970s, she won multiple swimming marathons and was one of the first women to swim around the island of Manhattan. She holds the world's record for longest ocean swim -- 102.5 miles from Bimini in the Bahamas to Jupiter, Florida.
Nyad said she was 8 years old when she first dreamed about swimming across the Straits of Florida. At the time, she was in Cuba on a trip from her home in Florida in the 1950s, before Fidel Castro led a Communist takeover in Cuba and the country's relations with the United States soured.
"I used to stand on the beach and I said to my mother, 'I wonder if anybody could swim over there,' " Nyad recalled saying while pointing to the Keys.
In her 60s, she says, she still feels "vital (and) powerful" -- and definitely "not old." A successful swim ideally will inspire people her age and older not to let their age hinder them, Nyad said.
"When I walk up on that shore in Florida, I want millions of those AARP sisters and brothers to look at me and say, 'I'm going to go write that novel I thought it was too late to do. I'm going to go work in Africa on that farm that those people need help at. I'm going to adopt a child. It's not too late, I can still live my dreams,' " she said.
From the archives: Nyad will not attempt crossing again
From the archives: Jellyfish, currents cut short Cuba-to-Florida swim
From the archives: Nyad stung again in swim attempt, team says
CNN's Matt Sloane contributed to this report.
