This is my first blog post since September 20th, 2018. Needless to say, a lot has happened since then and that post related a dire story involving an antagonistic reef in Fakarava. The years in between have brought me to a crossroads where heart-filling experiences aboard Mabrouka meet what often feels like the overwhelming battle against a sailboat’s natural tendency to return to its basic elements.

This story is not meant to be one solely of woe and hardship, although I had considered “Bound to Tonga” as the title, fully intending the double entendre. As a vessel and crew bound to(ward) Tonga, we had indescribably wonderful experiences on the water and in our ports of call. We moved westward from Tahiti, Moorea, and the Tuamotos to explore the Leeward Islands group and, from Bora Bora, sailed westward for visits at enigmatic Palmerston atoll in the Cooks and beautiful isolated Niue a few days further on.

It was, of course, impossible to foresee that the looming slab-sided islands of Tonga’s Vava’U group would take Mabrouka in their grip for the next five years and counting. Although I, personally, have made my way back to the US for family visits of medium to extended durations, between pandemics, exploding Tongan volcanoes, and a litany of major boat repairs, Mabrouka has apparently bound herself to Vava’U as her home.

In the meantime I, too, have adopted Vava’U as my near term home, slipping into the rhythms of a simple country that is overlayed with the complexities of an expatriate community, all while soaked in the beautiful colors and humid breezes of a tropical paradise.

To expand a bit on what’s kept Mabrouka here, it was Covid at first. None of the ports within reasonable cruising distance were accepting incoming yachts, so that put a damper on departing Vava’U for 2020 at least. Eventually Fiji opened up its special Blue Lanes that, in addition to various particular requirements, at least considered transit time as constituting Covid isolation. By then I’d already discovered that I had to rebuild my mizzen mast. So, not going anywhere. Long story short, it was in fairly quick succession that I also had to rebuild my main mast AND replace my engine.

No project of such magnitude as these happens quickly and they are especially clumsy to execute in such an isolated place as Vava’U. Components aren’t here. Materials aren’t here. Skill’s are at a premium. Even so, we “got ‘er done” and it seemed that Mabrouka had regained her sea legs. Unfortunately, rot reappeared in the newly rebuilt mizzen and it was completely condemned. Now, a good way into replacing the mizzen mast with an aluminum mast being fabricated from a local carcass, I have discovered rot in the main mast again.

This, then, is the crossroads to which I have come. My finances have never been generous and my fortitude for overcoming obstacle after obstacle has suffered dramatically. Lyrics from Hotel California have become an anthem with my friends here every time I discover another issue that keeps Mabrouka from sailing: “You can check out any time your like, but you can never leave.” They mean well, but their cynicism induces a bit of rigor mortis in my smile when I react.

So, I have decided to put in the effort to revive this blog with the hopes that it will stoke my inspiration to keep on keepin’ on. Stick with me. I can use the encouragement, to say nothing of whatever advice you might have.