Position 1700 on 19/09/19 03 07'N, 108 57'E. We've had an uneventful day, which in terms of ocean sailing is very good. It means that nothing notable, especially bad stuff has happened. A stress free day is good. Not the stuff that makes talk around yacht club bars
but who cares. We do. Right now we are passing through the Riau group with the Pulau Subi (Besai, big one) only about 8 nm away. I am pretty certain that if the smoke haze wasn't present then we would have a good view of the islands, which I suspect will have
impressive mountains. Alas, the smoke has reduced visibility to a horizon of about 1.5nm, instead of about 7nm or more. Looking straight up you can see blue sky, but with there being so little wind the smoke has settled low to the water.

At dusk last night John went below for a nap and left me on watch. Within 5 mins a very bright orange light appeared right on our bow giving me quite a start. I thought it was the last rays of the sun, in the wrong direction! Had he checked the radar he would have seen a
huge ship, with its AIS switched off! The radar picture showed it only 1.5nm away and right in front of us. Looking through the binoculars cleared the mystery and the ship was headed to the starboard, towards the north, while we were at that time headed west. So, there
goes a myth. Not all ships use their AIS systems which is highly illegal these days. We met one other ship with his AIS off and we called him up and they turned it on immediately. I ought to have called these chaps as well but didn't, and just kept an eye on his position via
the radar. It seems the ship was some kind of drilling ship or service ship for oil or gas, and it displayed the all round red, white, red lights saying ' I have difficulty maneuvering.' He obviously could move quite fast in a straight line though, as he soon passed us. The lights
appeared orange through the smoke haze. Singapore approaches will be no picnic with one of the worlds busiest ports, hence heavy ship traffic, being hampered by poor visibility, ie the smoke. It seems that this smoke is covering most of the South China Sea.

The motor has been on for many hours this trip. The wind is generally light, 4-8 knots which hardly moves Shonandra at all. When we feel patient, the motor goes off and we sail along at an average speed of about 3 knots, walking pace. We soon grow tired of it and burn
the fossil fuel. John observed today that the seas around these islands, so far, seems remarkably free of plastic litter, until......Looking over the side and into the water there is still plenty of trash. It is riding under the water settled at about 30cms under and below. How
disappointing that is, to still see plastic bags and other unidentifiable bits 'floating' down there. The rest is probably settled on the sea floor turning the ocean water acid and killing sea life. Trashing the ocean is basically like shitting in your food bowl. Total madness and
what sane people would do it! On my hobby horse again. None of us can pretend that this is not happening, and although Asian nations can make all the excuses under the sun, and bury their heads in the sand and blame everyone except themselves, they are not
exempt from cleaning up their act and educating their people. Climate change or no climate change, you can argue that one as you like or believe, but the fact remains, pollution alone will take out the human race if we don't act now. The science is clear on this one.

No dolphins yet today. We need another dose of those happy greetings and playfulness. It's heartening to see them still looking active and healthy despite what humans are doing to their world. We are now about 300 nm from Singapore. With tacking (zig zagging course)
into the wind such as it is, it will take us three days to reach Singapore instead of two. We have plenty of food and water aboard so no worries there. It will be another two days or more up the Malacca Straight to Klang after Singapore. All good here. Ginni and John.