Last night was very quiet by Java Sea standards. We saw fewer than ten ships throughout the entire night, which counts as a remarkably peaceful watch in this part of the world. There was still the usual need to keep an eye out, but for once it wasn't a continuous obstacle course of fishing boats, tugs and commercial traffic.
Yesterday we gave sailing another attempt and hoisted the mainsail for a few hours. Once again, reality quickly caught up. The wind remained well aft, and to keep any pressure in the sail we had to head 20–30 degrees off our desired course. Unfortunately, that pushed us towards shoals and islands. Gybing wasn't much of an improvement either, as that side of the course was populated by ships and tug-and-barge combinations. The only way to avoid them was to head even further upwind, which defeated the entire exercise. Eventually common sense prevailed, the mainsail came down, and the engine took over.
We also transferred fuel today using a pump and filter setup on board, which worked exactly as intended. It's one of those jobs that's never particularly exciting, and has a strong chance of making a huge mess if your not really careful.
I've also been in contact with the marina at Nongsa to arrange a berth while we complete the Indonesian checkout formalities. They've requested copies of the paperwork authorising the crew change that took place in Lombok, so it looks like the documents we obtained in Bali will do their job. Assuming everything goes according to plan—and that's always a dangerous assumption where bureaucracy in this part of the world is involved—we shouldn't encounter too much drama.
The stop will also give us a chance to replenish the boat's food supplies. With a bit of luck they'll have something other than the artificial rice. I've eaten enough of that to last several lifetimes which is exactly non.