A man from Brittany, France, has been at sea for 2 years, sailing on his 11.8-meter (39-foot) boat named Yvinec, after the island he grew up on.
But 24-year-old Guirec Soudée isn’t alone.
Monique, his hen, keeps him company through the warm weather and cold climates as they sail around the globe.
“Monique, ma poule, mon Amour!” Soudée wrote on his Facebook page, which means, “Monique, my chicken, my love.”
“She’s always with me,” Soudée told Epoch Times.
Soudée and Monique began their journey in May 2014. They sailed from the Canary Islands near Africa’s west coast, to St Bart’s in the Caribbean, before heading into the Arctic last August.
The duo are currently in Greenland, having spent 4 months there over the winter—surviving on rice and corn. Soudée said the pair will be leaving Greenland in 3 weeks.
Soudée knows it is very peculiar to travel with a hen, but said Monique is low maintenance and eats just about anything.
“Monique eats all kinds of foods. She eats fish—toutes sortes de poissons (all kinds of fish)—bread ... she eats everything,” Soudée said, adding that she is a happy and active hen.
He didn’t just bring Monique on his journey for companionship, it was also to prove that hens can lay eggs at sea and, especially, in cold climates.
“On average, Monique produces six eggs a week,” Soudée said—even in Greenland, where he said it gets extremely windy and they experienced months without seeing the sun.
Apart from the eggs, Soudée said he likes that Monique is there experiencing everything with him. “We share everything together,” he said.
However, on some occasions, Monique requires extra logistical arrangements, he said. For instance, Soudée has to either take her with him everywhere he goes or get someone to look after her when he isn’t at sea.
When asked what his family thinks about him traveling with a hen, Soudée said, “They think I am crazy for living with a chicken, but they are also very happy that I am traveling.”
Soudée, who claims he was a bad student in school, said when he travels, he learns a lot, “I learn many things. I learn things about myself, I learn things about other people as well as their cultures,” he said.
Soudée and Monique are set to head to Nome, Alaska, in the next few weeks, and by next year they'll sail to the U.S. mainland.
“I know people in America would be waiting for Monique,” because she is sort of famous, Soudée said, adding that he is thinking about sailing to California first.
Friends Read Free