No greater sigh of relief was mine as we left Piriapolis. I love the place, and the people, but I had been there long enough. Despite three weeks of fitting out, things didn't finally come together (batteries and sail repair) till the very last minute as seems ever the way with boat jobs. Strong southerly winds has been blowing for several days and had, at last, dropped. But we were met with a still lumpy sea and motored south for a few hours in light airs to find some clear water. Breaks in the cloud gave us an almost full moon, and Orion in the NE sky although, of course, upside down. The River Plate is a shallow old place and what with the cold wind, the murky water and the short chop, I could just as easily have been in the North Sea in early March. The wind was still in the south- our intended direction- but overnight swung slowly to the north east giving us a fair run down to Mar De Plata about 130 miles to go as I write. So, good to be back at sea. I have just dropped the Uruguay flag and hoisted the Argentine flag from the starboard spreader. Time for some scrambled egg, I think. Making 5.5 knots over the ground with just 7.5 knots of wind - can't be bad?