Fuel day
08 October 2013 | Tawau, Malaysia
Cloudy and just a hint of wind
Well, today was fuel day. We were to meet the brother of the manager of the yacht club at 0630 and bring money. I needed about 400 liters while Azizah needed just 100. Richard picked me up at 0620 and in we went to the ramp at the club. We were met a few minutes later by the brother who was going to get the fuel we needed. The back of his truck was full of Soy Protein jugs(no clue what soy Protein is). I gave him $1020 ringgits($329US) for what I needed while RIchard gave him some also. Off he went telling us he would be back in 30 minutes. Richard took me back to Zephyr where we off loaded Puff so I could go in and get the fuel. Just after 0700, he was waiting for us on the ramp.
In I went, loading 8-25 liter jugs into poor Puff. These were not the cleanest cans and I ended up with a good bit of diesel all over poor puff. Back I went to Zephyr where I handed them up to poor Tracy. She's going to have a stiff back tomorrow. We took out our Super Syphon and in it went. I went below often to check the fuel levels in the tanks. We got to one inch from the top of the starboard tank and then moved to the port side. Starboard took 7 of the 8 jugs I brought. The port side tanks were a bit lower so we thought we might get all 400 liters in. Checking regularly so as to avoid having fuel come out the top of the tanks, we stopped with just a half jug left and that would fit into our one and only diesel jerry can. I had just guessed about how much we needed and I think I did well.
We's already made the two trips in the get the last of the fuel so we could now put the empty jugs back into Puff and get them ashore. I'd used the launching ramp to get the jugs but decided to use the wharf to take them back to shore. The tide had changed and the ramp was getting nailed by some taller waves.
Once they were off loaded, i returned to Zephyr and with a strong de greaser, I scrubbed poor Puff till most of the fuel was gone. We can't have her all messy.
Given the bad weather that has been hitting us here in Tawau, we are trying to move up our departure date to Thursday. I took Puff over to Azizah and they were in agreement about getting out of here. Last night, not only did their anchor drag, but a few hours later, they got hit by some floating debris. A two large metal floats joined by a large rope hit them with one float going on one side of their boat and the other on the other side. As I said, the two were joined by a rope and chain. Richard had to go in the water at 2200 and cut the line to set them free. With it wrapped around their hull, they couldn't even start their engines should something else happen. They are very ready to get out of here.
We've made arrangement with a dive company in Mabul to take us out diving on their reefs. Price--$80 ringgits per dive per person. At about $25.00US, that's a great deal. We'll let you know in a couple of days when we get there.
Another picture of the dolphins.