AMHERST, N.S. — A 33-year-old marathon swimmer was forced to abort her attempt to become the first person to swim from P.E.I. to Nova Scotia via New Brunswick.

Jen Alexander of Halifax swam for 13 1/2 hours before nausea and strong currents forced her to call off the swim just before 4 a.m. Saturday.

She made it to New Brunswick and was a little over a third of the way to Nova Scotia when she was pulled out of the water.

Alexander's challenge was just 200 metres shorter than the width of the English Channel and she hoped the swim would raise awareness about diabetes.

Alexander has Type 1 diabetes and wore a waterproof insulin pump while in the water.

She said the pump worked well, but a combination of factors including swallowing salt water and rough seas made her nauseous and unable to finish.

"I did think a lot about the diabetes community while I was swimming, and I know that they were pulling for me," said Alexander. "It was really a difficult decision to choose to get out."

Alexander was on a diet of Kool-Aid, Gatorade, and liquid Tylenol while in the water. She had been vomiting significantly when she decided to stop her swim.

"If you can't feel your body, you really can't go very far," said Alexander, who doesn't know what caused the nausea.

"It could have been so many things. It could have been the jellyfish stings...you end up taking in a lot of saltwater, and it causes nausea."

Alexander tried to become the first person to swim 32 kilometres across the Northumberland Strait.

"It was a hard swim, the tides did not want to do what they were supposed to do, and it was really a struggle just to get to New Brunswick," she said.

She started swimming Friday afternoon from Bell's Point, P.E.I., and reached New Brunswick in about 9 1/2 hours.

"That's a long time, I was halfway across the strait in about three hours," Alexander said. "So that's quite a struggle to get to land...I think that's just something that you accept and you take as it comes."

Alexander said she still thinks the swim is achievable.

"I think the swim's definitely do-able on a good day, and I think it will be exciting," she said.

Alexander was the first person to complete a double crossing of the strait in July 2007. She completed that 26 kilometre swim in 9 hours and 17 minutes.

In September 2006 she attempted to swim across the English Channel, but only made it halfway across before being pulled out of the choppy water.