Category Archives: Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell

As a surfer and environmentalist enchanted by foreign waves and cultures, Captain Liz Clark left California aboard her 40-foot sailboat, Swell, in early 2006. As Liz says herself, “The world has since shown me more amazing people, waves, adventures, natural beauty, personal insights, and alternative ways to living than I ever dreamed possible. Swell serves as my floating home and transportation. I travel at a pace not much faster than you can run. The weather, swell, and tides dictate my days. This isn’t just a surf trip, it’s a lifestyle.”

Your Mother’s Calling…

By lizzy | Published: December 21, 2011
  Even way out here, I rarely feel that ‘far away’ from humanity anymore. Not only is there plenty of plastic as a human reminder on the beaches, but we have so many amazing ways to connect and be involved in each other’s lives without being physically together. This technology certainly makes spending these long [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Long hours in paradise…

By lizzy | Published: December 18, 2011
  An atoll away from the site of my ‘big cry’, I found a little more reason for hope…Here was an atoll that had been inhabited by a single family for many generations. I spent some time getting to know Gaston and Valentine, 2 of the 5 people that still permanently live there. Working with [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | 2 Comments

Better Must Come

By lizzy | Published: December 15, 2011
      A few days after the Napoleon breakdown, I went to talk at the elementary school in the nearby village, like I’ve been doing at various stops over the last few months. I give a presentation about plastic pollution its effect on marine life and use my sailing trip to help explain where [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | 1 Comment

The Great Napoleon Breakdown

By lizzy | Published: December 13, 2011
    That same week I spent hanging out with the fishes under Swell, I watched locals return day after day to fish the same spot in the reef. I could see them hauling up Napoleon wrasses. This great wrasse is an instrumental reef species, which can grow to nearly 400 lbs! One of the [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

The Coral Question…

By lizzy | Published: December 7, 2011
    I’m back!  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!     The swell was running a few days late, leaving me plenty of time to spend with my underwater neighbors. The coral is alive just here below Swell. I made a mooring with a piece of chain wrapped carefully around the bottom of [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Gone Sailing…Hang with Thich

By lizzy | Published: November 21, 2011
    I’m on a passage…not sure when I’ll find the world wide web again, so until then, I’m leaving you to ponder my favorite quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh’s early journals in Fragrant Palm Leaves:   “Clinging to what you have learned is worse than not learning it in the first place.”  “Let compassion [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Go to the Places That Scare You.

By lizzy | Published: November 16, 2011
  Renown for it’s sharky waters, I find myself pulling my feet up on my board during sunset surfs in this region…During another bout of bad weather, I was lucky enough to be able to tie to a charter mooring right in the middle of a pass, cozy and protected from nearly all wind directions… [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rock, rock, rock, and roll…

By lizzy | Published: November 12, 2011
    A limerick or poem to describe three days of an unexpected storm front while at anchor…   there once was a captain named Lizzy her hair turned greasy and frizzy she couldn’t wash it cause the boat rocked and tossed it so now she’s both stinky and dizzy…     Wind has swung [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Copra, the next olympic sport?

By lizzy | Published: November 8, 2011
    In the following weeks, I helped a local couple with their copra load, just to see what it entailed. I quickly understood why the local men were in such good shape…copra is their sport!   Picking up bits of conversations in the village, I soon understood that the guys who worked in copra [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Great Shark in the Sky

By lizzy | Published: November 3, 2011
  Matai’s presence was commanding. He towered over me upon introduction by ‘Auntie Mary’, a local friend I’d made on the outskirts of the atoll. It wasn’t only his height and solid, muscular girth but his staid demeanor. He looked like a Puamoutu version of Hulk Hogan. “Matai is our local weatherman,” Auntie Mary said. [...]
Posted in Captain Liz Clark and the Voyage of Swell | Tagged , , | Leave a comment