Candice Goujon is Uproar’s first sea hitch hiker, not really a stowaway. We see a lot of bulletin board ads for young people wanting to crew. It is another form of backpacking. Some just ask to join a cruising boat for a period of time, promising to help with the work, cook, wash dishes or even teach children.

Some cruising boats take on volunteer crew for long passages to help run the boat. But we have read about problems with customs and immigration when bringing crew along. Officials don’t want the captain to bring people without visible means of support and dump them off in their country. There have been instances where the captain was forced to pay “repatriating” air fare for a crew member! This and obvious concerns with taking a stranger into our home have kept us from participating.

But last week we saw an ad of a young lady from France who needed a ride from Guadeloupe to Martinique. We don’t need to clear out of Guadeloupe and into Martinique as they are both states of France. Candice is a French citizen who is free to travel in these islands. It is a 120 mile sail which we do overnight. Candice’s English-speaking friend arranged with Lisa to meet us at the Deshaise, Guadeloupe dinghy dock.

Candice spent five months in Guadeloupe on a Work Away project, tending bar, laying tile and coaching a kids soccer team. She had a place to stay in Trois River, Martinique for a month and help bartending, before returning home to the south of France. Her Work Away host family eyed us with concern and kissed Candice on both cheeks bidding farewell. I gave them an Uproar boat card with our contact information, some assurance as to who we are. We loaded her huge, pink suitcase into our dinghy and putted out to Uproar at anchor. The anchor came up around 12:30.

For once, I was with someone from France whose English is more limited than my French. It was good to converse in French and she helped me with a few words. But few words were spoken. Candice just loved to look out over the water.

The sail started off smoothly, then wind quit and we motored. Then came a strong wind funneling around the south end of Guadeloupe. We reefed, unreefed, motored and sailed through the night. Candice was a bit shocked with the power of the wind when the strong gusts wrapped around the mountains. But she took it in stride along with a Sturgeon, seasickness pill I gave her.

Around midnight, she retired to her cabin and slept well. Lisa and I took short, three-hour watches through the night. Candice was up soon after dawn, much more relaxed and comfortable with the Uproar program on the big pond. She kept saying how beautiful it was. “I am happy!”

We sailed into Fort de France, Martinique around 10:30 and dinghied Candice and her huge, pink suitcase ashore. There were ferry docks nearby and Candice purchased a ticket for Trois Islet, about four miles across the bay.

Au Revoir, Candice. You were a trooper during a bit of tough sailing and recovered from mild seasickness well. We hope the rest of your stay in the French West Indies continues to be the trip of a lifetime. We were glad to share our adventures with you and deliver you safely to your next stop.