Now that the problem with our website has been fixed(thanks again to all of you), we can get back to what's been going on.
We got into Sutera Marina on Tuesday and got the last available slip. We had to rush out and get 'Third Party Liability" insurance to pacify the marina. It's a "must have" or get out of the marina. Cost $390US for a years coverage but is supposed to be required in any marinas that we might visit throughout the rest of SE Asia. Guess we will see. The Marina's cost per day is actually less that it was to sit on the hard in Kudat at Penuwasa Boat Yard and what they offer here is a whole lot better.

For a cost of $28.00 per day(US), we have access to: Olympic size swimming pool as well as a smaller "fun" pool. A Billiards room, bowling alley, movie theatre(shows movies three times a week($5.50 ringitts per per person) and even give you free popcorn. Laundry service(cheapest we have found at $2 ringitts per kilo. Sauna as well as an exercise room. Shuttles into town for $3.00 ringitts every hour. Fresh water at the slips and electricity(metered) if you can get your boat to play nicely with the current. Free internet and 24 hour security guards. Tennis courts as well as ping pong and you can even play a round of golf if you want(and have a bunch of money). It's a huge resort with huge hotels on either side of the marina. They even offer a 20% discount on any food you buy at the restaurants. Hundreds of millions to build it and the most lavish place we have ever been. Google the Magellan Hotel in Kota Kinabalu for a look.

So heres what we have been up to. Tuesday, got the insurance and put Zephyr to bed for a short while. Wednesday, head for town to take our outboard in for more service(more on that to come). Some grocery shopping and a trip to one of the pools here at the marina. Thursday, I stripped down the Racor filter for our diesel fuel. It was filthy!! It looks like we made a BAD decision to take the Sail Derawan folks up on the free 200 liters of fuel at Derawan. It's appears to have put a whole lot of impurities into my tanks. I found no water in my Racor but tons of small black flecks of something a bunch of thick goo in the bottom of the filter. Tomorrow we will be sticking a long tube down to the bottoms of our tanks and pumping out what ever is in the bottom. Should be interesting. Once we were done with the Racor, we decided to empty all our water tanks and get them scrubbed out. We filter EVERY drop of water that goes into our tanks through a paper filter and an charcoal filter. Even so, the bottoms of our tanks we covered in a thin layer of dirt or rust. We pumped out the first two tanks but had to bail out the last two(about 125 gallons) by hand as the water pump wouldn't do the job. Started this job at 1300 and finished at 1630 for a long hot afternoon. We're up to Thursday. Still no info on the outboard(no news is good news?).

Friday, it was off to try and find a plug or shaft to go inside the broken oar. No one sells oars in KK from what we have seen. The only solution was to find something to shove and glue in the existing broken tube. I asked around the marina and was told to go to "Hang On" hardware. When we got there(took a cab), he didn't have anything that would do it but sent us to an aluminum fabricator around the corner. Mr. Soon did and it only cost $17 ringitts(about $6.00 US) I got two so should the other oar break(not a matter of "if" but "when". While we were running this errand, we finally got a call from the Mercury dealer. Our engine was fixed. More stuff in the carburetor. Nelson asked about our tank and fuel line. The tank was new but the hose was old. Time for a new fuel line hose. We stopped in for lunch at Kohinoor Restaurant that specializes in North Indian cuisine. Tracy had the Garlic Chicken while I had the Kandai Chicken. OMG, was it ever good. We even ordered some Garlic Nan(thin puffy bread) to go with it. It was fantastic and right along the shoreline near the store we were visiting. We may hit it tomorrow if we can for lunch. We grabbed a cab and headed back to the marina to get rid of our purchases. I took off on the shuttle bus about an hour later to get the motor. It started to rain as I got into town and didn't stop for well over an hour. I was stuck in a shopping center. By the time I got to the dealer, it was just before 1700 and he was wanting to close. They did stay long enough to fabricate me a new hose assembly though. I promised to return today(Saturday) and get it.

We booked another place on the shuttle and this time, I smuggled our fuel tank on the bus. If it was going to run or fail, I wanted it to happen on our fuel tank. A "real life" exercise in "will it or won't it". We got there just about 0900 and she took a bit of coaxing(new hose and all) but she did start up. The mechanic did some final adjustments to the carburetor and we were set--well almost. We needed to run a few more errands in town(food) so we told them we would come back after lunch. We visited a tour company and got signed up for a tour of a Malaysian Cultural village site on Monday. I'll be reporting back on it later so stay tuned for that trip. We grabbed a cab a short time later and brought our Mercury home. This time, the cost was $170 ringitts labor for the rebuilt carburetor, $45 for a new inline filter(bought two just in case) so that made it $90 ringitts. The new fuel line was $67 ringitts along with a couple of hose clamps. It totaled to just about $330 ringitts--$101US. What a bargain. We clamped her to our stern rail and ran a hose to her to keep her cool and pulled the cord. She started right up though ran bit rough till it got warmed up. I'll be doing it again everyday till we leave. I picked up our laundry and got that off our list.

Tomorrow, into the fuel tanks along with a few other jobs.