Almirante and the "Nuthing Wong"

After Thomas and Elke leave, we are a bit lost... We've seen enough of Panama City (even considering all the ceviche we could ever eat), and wonder how we can best spend the time until Ina and Till arrive (yes, we've got more visitors coming!).

Workaway is the answer, of course. We check the area around Boca del Toro, find a few interesting projects, and eagerly write them. Then we sit and wait, barely hoping for a reply on the same day. (To explain: We've applied for quite a few workaway projects by now, and according to our experience, the response time is somewhere in between days and weeks.)

But.. we are lucky! Clive, a Canadian captain, calls us back almost immediately. We miss the night bus to Almirate that day, but immediately book the one for tomorrow.

Despite our foresight to bring extra warm clothes, it is darned cold in the bloody bus. Really, really cold. The tip of my nose goes numb in the night. 

I simply do not understand why anyone living in the Tropics would enjoy that. My only explanation is that it could be some kind of a weird prestige thing with bus drivers. (My bus is cooler than yours, hur hur hur..)

Yes, it really is cold in that Night Bus to Almirante.

Around 6 o'clock, we arrive in Almirante, stretch our frozen bones in the morning sun, and get a breakfast at the Tsunami, a restaurant that Clive recommended. Then we board a taxi, and drive along the muddy path to the local boat yard, where we meet Clive and get so see his boat, the Nuthing Wong, for the first time.

The "Nuthing Wong" on the hard.

Clive meets us when we unload our backpacks from the taxi, and after a brief introduction, he shows us to our quarters on the boat. A fresh coffee is set up in the galley, and Clive tells us his (and his boat's) story.

Captain Clive inside the "Nuthing Wong".

The Nuthing Wong is a unique boat. Clive built it himself (yes, welded steel hull, masts self-cut from trees and everything) years ago, and ever since he has been sailing all over the world with this sturdy vessel. You wouldn't be able to tell if you met him, but he is 69 years old, so that's quite a few years of sailing experience.

Two years ago, he got wrecked in a storm in the reefs close to Bocas. The engine was damaged, the rudder ripped off, the main mast fell, and since it couldn't be towed to safety immediately, it was later also robbed and stipped by unknown miscreants. Any other boat would have been ready for scrapping, but not this one.

Clive got it into the boat yard of Almirante, and worked on it.. hard. Together with over a dozen volunteers, everthing was put back into working order.

Almost everything: The engine works, but it doesn't want to start. It could be a problem with the starter motor, or the cabling of the solenoid of the starter motor, or.. well. I'm afraid I don't know. I'm no help with the engine.

Foresail.

It turns out that we can help in other small ways. Clive has to fly to Canada in two days, and there are lots of things to do and tidy up before he can leave. I assist with my (by now) passable Spanish and unending patience to get through the proceedings with the harbourmaster, Hannah seals a crack that leaks water from the main mast straight into the bilge, and most of all we keep Clive company. 

We get the impression that he is most grateful for this. After all, he has been sailing all his life, and now he has to leave his boat, his home, alone here in Almirante, out of the water. And he really, really doesn't like that. The last days have been hard for him, but it appears that we have succeeded in making it a little bit more bearable.

Us enjoying a couple of rain-free minutes on the rear deck.

Finally, we batten down the hatches, and all together move out of the boat into a hostel in Almirante downtown. On the next morning, Clive needs to continue to the airport of Panama City, and we.. got another Workaway position! (More about that later.)

It was only a brief adventure, but Clive really managed to convey some of his passion for sailing, and his boat. We now also feel that this boat belongs back into the oceans, back into its element.

Front deck view onto the jungle. We all wish the view was onto the open sea.

On a side note: While we are there, two other boats are transferred back into the water. It's quite impressive to see those sailing ships lifted around on the crane. They all look disproportionally huge when on the hard, and settle back to their original comfortable size as soon as they are into the sea.

We keep our fingers crossed that all goes well, and the Nuthing Wong and Clive will join them soon.

PS: Clive is looking for some more crew members in January for the journey through the Panama Canal and back up to British Columbia! If you are interested in a unique sailing adventure on this amazing boat, don't hesitate to write him an email here.

Other activities around the boat yard: Boat-on-a-crane-Ralley.