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Austinite's swim cut short, but effort to aid reef goes on
Pamela LeBlanc, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
July 19, 2002
COZUMEL, Quintana Roo -- After 10 1/2 hours of battling winds and swift currents, Austinite Paul Ellis ended his quest Thursday to swim the 33-mile length of this island near the coral reefs he loves.
Back aboard "The Yellow Rose," his support boat, he hugged his girlfriend and sons. "If we'd had any luck at all, we'd have finished. This should be a 12- or 13-hour swim."
Although he quit with a wave of his hand a dozen or so miles short of his goal, the 59-year-old president of Austin Business College said the effort was still a success because it drew attention to the deteriorating health of coral reefs worldwide.
"It makes me very sad, but I know what we did it for," he said.
A documentary crew followed his attempt and plans to produce a film on his swim and the reefs issue early next year.
Ellis' attempt had been delayed twice because of weather and permit issues.
Finally, Thursday morning he joined his family for a prayer on the dock of a hotel pier and boarded a boat that carried him to Maracaibo Reef at the south end of Cozumel. There, he rubbed his body in Vaseline, yanked on a wet suit and a pair of battered fins, clipped on a flashing red beacon, pulled on a mask and began to swim.
Ellis originally planned to swim from Cozumel to Cancun on the Yucatan mainland, a distance of about 55 miles, but on Wednesday he decided to change his course because of stiff winds from the north. Winds here typically blow from the south, which would have helped push him toward his goal. Instead, he tried to use the island as protection from the worst of the weather and swam on the far side of the reefs a half-mile to a mile from shore.
"It's going to be a struggle," he said moments before starting. "It's one little tiny man against big nature. The hardest part is going to be the wind, which will eventually wear me out."
By 6 a.m., a half hour after he started, he was stroking steadily north as the sun rose. Music blared from "The Yellow Rose." Three of Ellis' sons -- Colin, Paul Matthew and Tres -- along with Austin doctor and friend Joe Martin, the film crew and a few local swimmers were on board.
Ellis paused in the water periodically as his sons swam to him with bottles of Gatorade and liquid protein to squeeze into his mouth.
The swim took him over reefs he has dived on repeatedly in the 25 years since he started vacationing in Cozumel. But Mother Nature turned against him as the swim wore on, playing tricks with the swirling surface currents.
Late in the afternoon, Ellis decided he could not fight the current anymore.
He signaled to "The Yellow Rose" and pulled himself up a ladder onto the boat after swimming about 20 miles. He was exhausted but talked easily and did not require any medical attention.
"I feel like if I had some kind of hope that I could have finished, I would have continued," Ellis said, flashing a thumbs-up sign. "But the current hasn't been with us the last five hours."
A Texas flag given to Ellis by Gov. Rick Perry flew from the back of the escort boat.
Ellis chose not to use a shark cage for his swim, but he didn't encounter anything more dangerous than jellyfish along the way.
Early on, Ellis rode the swift current that moves north in the channel. But conditions grew more difficult, with the winds picking up, the surf getting rougher and the surface currents pushing against him. At times, he seemed to be almost swimming in place, rising and falling with the ocean's swells. His stroke weakened as time went on, from a powerful, steady motion to a labored one.
About 3 p.m., he took the captain's recommendation to let the boat pull him closer to shore, to the point of his farthest forward progression.
"This is a one-in-a-thousand chance thing," he said, clearly frustrated.
Ellis said earlier that the swim would be his version of climbing Mount Everest. An ex-Marine aviator who flew helicopter combat missions in Vietnam, Ellis is an experienced scuba diver who frequently took diving vacations to Mexico. Three years ago, when he returned to Isla Mujeres, an island northeast of Cancun he had not visited in several years, he was shocked by the lack of ocean life. The more he learned about the changing reefs, the more he fretted.
Much of the world's sea life depends on the reefs for survival. And humans depend on the ocean. Pollutants, overfishing, careless boating, diseases and global warming have taken a toll.
In Cozumel, officials have set aside more than 67,000 acres as a marine sanctuary, where fishing is prohibited and dive operators must adhere to strict regulations. Through his swim, Ellis said he would be thanking government officials on Cozumel for their efforts.
"We can do our share, but people have to realize whatever we do, it ultimately affects the whole planet," said Gustavo Maldonado, president of the Cozumel Dive Shop Operators Association.
Ellis has never been a competitive athlete, but the 5-foot-10-inch grandfather trained for a year and a half, logging 2,500 miles in the water.
Much of the training took place in Barton Springs, but Ellis also traveled to North Carolina, where he spent time in open water.
The swim, Ellis said, was not a failure because he focused new attention on the delicate balance of life on the reefs. The swim also was a personal best. The longest nonstop ocean swim he'd ever completed before Thursday was about nine hours.
Already Ellis is formulating plans for another swim -- but he's not giving details. He's resting for a while.
Copyright 2002 The Austin American Statesman Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
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