What’s your ultimate goal out of life? For many people around the world, you would get the generic response. Get married, buy a house, have a couple of kids. It’s a great life, I wouldn’t mind having it one day. There are so many more experiences I want to have before settling down with all the responsibilities that come with age. It seems more and more young people are adopting this way of thinking. More and more of us are putting off the traditional milestones that generations before us have had. We are taking more time for ourselves, and doing things that make us happy, instead of following the societal timeline of where we should be at a certain age. Liz Clark was given the opportunity of a lifetime at a young age, and she grabbed a hold of it with tremendous enthusiasm. She was a bar tender in San Diego, California when someone offered her an incredible way to see the world. She took it, and is now sharing her adventures with the world!
Liz Clark, who is self-proclaimed “She-pirate” was working as a bartender in San Diego. In 2006 however, she was made an incredible offer.
She was given a Cal 40 sailboat, on the condition that she document her travels around the world. I mean, who would turn down a deal like that!?
In 2013, Captain Liz welcomed a new crew mate aboard her vessel. She adopted a 6 month old kitty cat she had rescued.
She named the cat Amelia (also referred to lovingly as Tropicat). She was malnourished and quite feral when she found her. Liz was drawn to her though by what she described as having a “commanding lioness air and carefree bravado.”
Now the two are traveling companions! Liz has said she has adapted to being surrounded by water very well.
Liz takes Tropicat (that name is so much better than Amelia) everywhere with her. Their favorite activities are fishing from the boat, walking on the beach and hiking together.
“She has to go out of a cat comfort zone often,” Liz says.
‘But I think she now understands that I will keep her safe and she will have a lot of fun in the end.”
Tropicat may have to be brave for many of their activities together, but one thing she loves doing is hiking.
She also loves just hanging out with her human and relaxing with some spa treatments.
These two seem like they were tailor-made for adventuring together.
Liz says it was very unnerving leaving all her friends and family on the dock when she first set off on her journey.
“I didn’t know if I would be capable of captaining a boat this big and managing all that goes into a trip where you’re off the grid.” This would be a concern of mine as well.
Liz knew that if she didn’t at least try to do this though, that she would always regret it. Luckily she found a friend so she wouldn’t be lonely.
She didn’t come from a wealthy family like many people believe. So how she was going to make money was definitely a real concern for Liz.
Everything seems to have worked out though, because she is definitely living the sweet life with her furry friend.
She definitely doesn’t live in wealth or luxury, most nights she sleeps on a pool mat underneath the stars.
“But I feel rich when I look up at that night sky and breathe the fresh ocean air and leap into the sea each morning.”
Tropicat does a great a great job of making the “Swell” (that’s the name of the yacht) feel more like a home. What I would give to witness sunsets like this!
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Getting an opportunity like this really is a once in a lifetime thing. For most people it will never happen. Being on your own in a sailboat in the middle of the ocean would be an extremely scary experience. There are so many valuable life lessons that can be taught our on the sea though. You would have to learn to be self-reliant and incredibly strong-willed, and these are skills that will definitely help Liz in the future. Who knows though, maybe she’ll stay a pirate forever!