![Virginia Oliver, 101 at the time, bands a lobsters’ claws as her son Max passes them to her from their lobster traps in Penobscot Bay in Maine on July 31, 2021.](https://media.nbclosangeles.com/2024/07/108007636-1721231863202-gettyimages-1234362064-AFP_9HV48P.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=320%2C180)
At 104 years old, Virginia Oliver plans to set sail and continue doing the job she's loved for over 90 years: catching lobsters.
Oliver, known in Maine as the "Lobster Lady," renewed her commercial lobster license just in time for lobster-catching season, according to TODAY.com.
"I've been lobstering on and off for 91 years," Oliver said in the mini documentary "Conversations with The Lobster Lady." The short film was shot in 2019 by Wayne Gray and Dale Schierholt.
Since then, Oliver's continued lobstering. "I like to do it," she said.
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During good weather days in peak season, which spans from June to October, Oliver goes out on her boat "Virginia," named after herself, to catch lobsters with her 81-year-old son, Maxwell. The pair make the trip three times a week.
"I don't want to go five [days]," Oliver said. "That's a regular job and I don't need that."
But Oliver does stick to a daily routine of waking up earlier than most people. "That's my daily thing, a quarter to 5 [a.m.] in the morning I get up," she said in the film. "But if we're going out to haul, I usually get up at a quarter to 3 [a.m.]"
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Oliver preps the bait bags for the lobster traps, and after her son hauls the lobsters, she measures them to make sure they're large enough. If they don't meet the size requirements, she tosses them back into the water.
She even gets dolled up before her trips to the boat. "I always wear earrings to haul," Oliver said while laughing in the film. "I always wear my lipstick and things, just like I was going to go up the street somewhere."
![Virginia Oliver tosses back an undersized lobster as she and her son, Max, haul together in South Thomaston, ME on Aug. 10, 2021.](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/108007639-1721232009420-gettyimages-1234810754-rinaldi12mainelobster06-001.jpeg?w=1920&h=1080)
When Oliver was just eight years old, she went lobstering for the first time with her father who owned a store and was a lobster dealer. Her job was to weigh the lobsters and pump the gas for the boat at the time.
She continued lobstering with her late husband, even though most women didn't do the job.
"When I started out with lobstering, no women ever went. Now there's quite a few women," Oliver said. "That was just the way I lived. I don't worry about somebody else and what they're going to do. I do what I want to do, but I'm really independent."
When asked what her secret is for living to 100, Oliver said, "You've gotta keep living, you gotta keep working. It's not easy."
A lot of Oliver's lifestyle choices also set her up for greatness; she stays active, sticks to a schedule, has never smoked and doesn't enjoy alcohol, according to TODAY.com.
Oliver also spends a lot of time near water and grew up living on several islands off the coast of Maine, including Andrews Island, the Neck of Andrews Island, Dix Island Harbor and more.
Nearly all of the world's blue zones, areas with the longest-living communities, are near water. Living near water "seems to make us happier," longevity expert Dan Buettner told CNBC Make It in June.
And when it comes to doing what she loves, Oliver never plans to stop lobstering.
"I'm not going to retire," she told TODAY.com. "I'm going to do this till I die."
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