We made it into Tawau on Friday after fighting a strong current coming out from shore. Our normal engine speed that allows us to go 5.5 knots would only allow us to make 3.5 knots of headway. A strong 2+ knot current. We got an early start upping the anchor at 0700 and tried to get out of where we were anchored only to find our way blocked by fishermen with lots of nets in the water. While Azizah with here shallow draft(6 inches) could go over them, our 6 foor + draft made us have to go around them adding about 45 minutes to the trip. We finally got to Tawau and anchored off the Tawau Yacht Club about 1300 and launched Puff and headed for Customs, Immigration and the Harbor Master.
The Harbor Master told us to come back when we were ready to leave. No paperwork needed there until then. On to Customs where as we entered the office, Tracy was TOLD to take a seat on the far side of the office as the official would only deal with me. Nothing politically correct going on here folks. He filled in the paperwork but we found out later that he has us down as leaving the day we arrived. May have to correct that on Monday. On to Immigration. They are out on the main wharf where the ferries come and go. Out timing was off as we got there just as a bunch of people were getting processed to leave the country. No problem. The "minders" that watch the lines for Immigration pulled us out of line and pushed us to near the front of the line. Tracy was happy to wait in line but he was having nothing to do with that. We were now 4th in line. Opps, wrong line. We were ushered through a door to a man at a desk that took all our papers and off he went only to return a bit later and take us to be finger printed. ALL foreigners get finger printed in Malaysia. Heck, I've never been finger printed in the US! Once we both had had that done, we were handed our paperwork and we were free to go. As we left the office, all the people that had been waiting were gone. All had gotten their paperwork processed as well. When Azizah came through about an hour later, they wizzed right through since they had just done ours and there was no made crush of people when they showed up(lucky them).
We found an ATM so we now had some money for supplies. We entered a "super " market along the docks to see what they had. Well, they had roaches by the hundreds crawling everywhere on every thing. YUCK! We passed on just about everything except a tube of potato rings like Pringles only in small rings. Seals so there should be no roaches. As it was quite hot, we grabbed a cab back to the Tawau Yacht Club and got something to drink and found that they had internet. Out first in a month. Only 600+ emails in our primary account and another 300 in our secondary. WOW! We settled in and were later met by Richard and Samia off Azizah when they returned. We'd planned on eating at the restaurant but a big nasty storm came up with a bit of wind and a lot of lightening and thunder. Back to Zephyr we went and settled in.
Where we are anchored is in the middle of the same stream of current that hit us as we entered the harbor. There is no escaping it so for 6 hours we point one way and then we shift as the current changes and we point the other. The current is so strong that it over powers the wind. It was so strong yesterday that I couldn't keep Puff close to the back of the boat to get our outboard on as we normally do--dropped by a crane on deck. I could get it half way on but couldn't engage both of the handles that hold her in place. I tightened one clamp and disconnected the crane and then let go of the line that held the stern of Puff to the back of the boat and we went swinging away from Zephyr very quickly as the current grabbed Puff. Snap, out to the end of the line and we were now running with the current. I could finally get the other side of the motor to drop into place and get the clamps tightened. Not a lot of fun.
Yesterday, we headed back into town to see about getting our phone a new simm card and a new internet dongle so we could get internet at Zephyr. While the yacht club has free internet, the signal comes and goes in the anchorage. As we walked into town we were joined by Samia from Azizah. Richard was taking the day off and staying aboard. We took a couple of cabs before we found ourselves in the right area of town to get what we needed. Samia needed so sewing machine needles and we found those for her also. Found a small restaurant where we all had lunch. While we were in Indonesia, every one ate with their fingers. Here, every one eats with a fork and a spoon. No knives are used apparently. Back in "civilization" again though I had gotten used to smashing all my food into a pile and grabbing it with my fingers. It's like eating barbecue at every meal with the sticky fingers that come with that type of eating. No more--it's back to a fork!!!
We found lots of places that sold phones and accessories but not the simm cards we needed and no one seemed to have any idea where to get the internet dongle we needed. The woman that ran the restaurant came to the rescue and gave us the name of a store that could help us. She wrote it on a paper so we could show it to the cab driver. Off we went to another more upscale section of town and after asking around we finally found a store that could sell us the dongle(still no simm cards). We continued the search and finally found a Maxis kiosk that does sell the simm cards and gets them all activated. It took a couple of hours as we found the original dongle we bought is only good for Windows. We had to buy another from Maxis that would work with the Apple. We'd brought both our computers with us(smart huh?). Once we got that done, we found a bigger, cleaner market and got some more food for the boat. Grabbed another cab and headed back to the yacht club were headed back to Zephyr to get cleaned up and then in to have dinner with Richard and Samia. We were joined by Will off another boat that is anchored here. He's been here a month waiting for parts and a crew.
Today, off to the fish market and a curry restaurant we heard about. It's been a while but now I can pig out on it again. YEA!
More to come with pictures.