Arrgh you ready to meet Captain Jack?

DESTIN, FL - There's more than one way to fill ye treasure chest, or bank account, working on the Destin harbor.
   
Meet a man that does just that by serving up inexpensive entertainment to young visiting lads and lassies - Capt. "Calico" Jack Clark.
   
Clark found his calling to be Capt. Jack, the Pirate of the Emerald Coast, after 25 years of sailing.
   
"Calico Jack is a real pirate," Clark said. "They call him Calico Jack because he wore colorful, flashy clothes."
   
Clark, 67, carries on the pirate's legacy as a friendlier version who gives brief and memorable encounters to visitors by making balloon animals, posing for pictures and telling pirate stories for tips.
   
And the money to be made as an entertaining pirate doesn't sound too shabby.
   
Clark was a charter sailboat captain for 25 years around South Florida and the Florida Keys before leaving the wheel to put on his pirate boots at the suggestion of a movie producer who saw Clark telling stories as a part of his charter tours.
   
He told Clark that he should consider putting on pirate shows at the Treasure Ship Restaurant in Panama City, which he went on to do for three years.
   
"I do much better (financially) with what I do now and I don't have the expense," he said.
   
His first appearance in Destin was briefly at Captain Kidd's Seafood Buffet seven years ago, then he became a permanent part of the dockside scenery as people welcomed his face painting and balloon art.
   
"On a good day, I make 300 balloons in eight hours," he said. "I'll do it till I drop."
   
Clark now works mostly from February to October at AJ's, Lucky Snapper, Water Grill and around the Emerald Grande. His favorite gig is the one hour and fifteen minute kids' pirate cruise that can be booked in a tiki hut behind AJ's. Clark shares pirate tales, fires his blank-loaded pistol in the air and gives the kids goodies from his treasure chest.
   
"The thing I do on the pirate ship that the parents love is I swear (the kids) in," he said.
   
Capt. Jack reminds them to do things like study hard so they can move out one day, to change their knickers on a regular basis, to clean behind their ears and honor their parents.
   
Youngsters are intrigued with Clark's appearance when they study his weather beaten face and costume made up of authentic-looking replica pieces. His white beard is the real thing and his pierced ears are occupied with two large gold hoops.
   
"They all think I'm wearing makeup and they come to pull on my beard," he said. "They ask if my ears are really pierced."
   
But at the end of the day, the pirate fantasy ends and Clark heads home to Andalusia, Ala. He might stop at Walmart, the gas station or the bank in his pirate garb on his way home, but people don't seem to take a second look at him anymore - except for the kids.
   
At home, Clark and his wife, Kate, run an animal rescue farm that is populated with horses, llamas, dogs, cats, parrots, geese, turkeys and goats.
   
"We'll be having a baby llama sometime this summer," he said, adding that his whole purpose in life is to save as many abused and homeless animals as possible.
   
Life is good for Clark, who now has a clean bill of health after surviving treatment and surgery for colon cancer over the past couple of years.
   
"I almost died ... I can only credit the man upstairs for making it through," he said.
   
With his first career, cancer and settling into a new farm behind him, Clark plans to remain a permanent part of the harbor's charm.
   
"I have more friends in Destin than I ever had anywhere else - real friends."