Koloa doctor swims to Ni`ihau

Dr. J. Michael Murray, who has swum Na Pali Coast and trained for five years

before Sunday becoming the first person known to have swum from Kaua’i to

Ni’ihau, is also the first to tell others he wouldn’t recommend the roughly

20-mile swim.

“It’s was brutal,” said Murray, 50, who was back in his

Kaua’i Medical Clinic office in Koloa yesterday, seven pounds lighter after 12

hours in the water the day before.

“Nobody’s ever done it before, and

there’s a reason,” said Murray, listing the exhaustive distance and conditions

including sharks, jellyfish and currents.

Sunburned and suffering from the

effects of numerous jellyfish stings which left his legs cramping and swollen

during the swim, Murray explained that his age (50), the year (2000) and

something his children will be able to tell their friends and their children

all drove him to take the plunge from the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility

around 7 a.m. Sunday.

“I guess it was the challenge of the unknown, the

physical and mental challenge,” said Murray, who hopped into the ocean without

fins near a base surf break known as Middles to take on the Kaulakahi

Channel.

Local fishermen, even Murray, know the area to be frequented by

sharks. But he was joined about mid-channel by three small baitfish, around 10

inches long, and for some reason he felt safe as long as they were with

him.

“They were my ‘aumakua (personal or family god). I knew, as long as

they were there, I didn’t have to worry about sharks,” Murray said.

When he

went to the escort boat (Terry Donnelly and Murray’s family were aboard the

Blue Dolphin) to get some fresh water and food for himself, the fish didn’t

follow. When he resumed the swim, they returned, staying with him nearly all

the way to Ni’ihau.

Fergus “Fergy” Macomber paddled with Murray the entire

way on a 13-foot paddleboard, and Murray’s son, Christopher Murray, an

18-year-old senior at Kaua’i High School, paddled next to his father on a

surfboard for much of the crossing.

The elder Murray suffered from

seasickness, cramping, “a lot” of jellyfish stings and nausea associated with

swallowing seawater. He said he was vomiting mid-channel, suffering from

seasickness and nausea for around two hours, then felt fine after that

episode.

Rollers he estimated to be 10 to 12 feet high were experienced

mid-channel, but no breakers he might get caught in, he said. The weather was

perfect for the swim, with light winds and bright sun the entire day. By the

time he approached Ni’ihau, though, it was dark.

Out of respect for the

Native Hawaiian inhabitants of Ni’ihau, he did not go ashore, stopping his swim

in around eight to 10 feet of water close enough to Ni’ihau’s shore to be able

to see sheep staring at him, he said.

His family cheering him on from the

boat and in the water, and a cellular telephone call from surfers competing in

a surf meet at PK’s (Prince Kuhio’s) at Kukui’ula saying they were praying for

him, kept him going, he said.

In his mind, he kept thinking he wanted his

children to be able to stand on shore on Kaua’i, face Ni’ihau and tell whoever

would listen and believe that their father conquered the channel with just his

muscles.

He swam front crawl (freestyle) the entire way and trained for the

crossing for five years. Murray, who has swum Na Pali Coast, routinely swims

about three miles a day, during lunch, in the Hyatt Regency Kaua’i Resort and

Spa’s 25-yard lap pool. He trained also by swimming in the ocean off the South

Shore.

He didn’t get cold during the cross-channel swim, he related, and

the jellyfish stings happened only when he was within four or five miles of

either island.

During the swim, he ate yogurt, canned peaches and Tiger’s

Milk high-energy candy bars, and drank lots of water and Gatorade.

The day

before the swim was spent loading up on carbohydrates, including pastas, which

his wife prepared for him, he said.

Staff writer Paul C. Curtis can be

reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) and pcurtis@pulitzer.net