April 3 rd Early Start

Hi All,
Well today is our big journey as we needed to get to Norfolk this evening so Jean and Gene could get back to their home .A total of 135 miles on the ICW our longest yet in one day!
We did depart at 6.45 am.The sun had just come up and it was a glorious morning.Water was calm and still and a gentle mist was rising on the surface of the water. A fishing boat which had been docked in front of us at the Bellhaven marina had left just 10 mins earlier than us also bound for Norfolk. so we followed them all the way including a stop for fuel at Coinjock in NC .Coinjock had been our original stop had we not got stuck in Bellhaven the second night.It sits right on the ICW a long face ( side dock)and is purely a place to park for the night, fuel up and eat at its little restaurant.We saw lots of Osprey nesting on the way usually at the bouy markers. They mate for life so presumably come back to the same nesting spot.They fly up from their winter spots in South America around mid march .We crossed through into Virginia territory and approached Great Bridge area with its one lock and the crazy bridge openings which open on this hour or half hour.I.E this meant we traveled very slowly in between each bridge ( not so bad if you are a sailboat going 6 Kts ) but three bridges were only 3 miles apart and you have 1 hour to travel that distance!The last bridge we had been told was 11" height , but then the lock master told us it was 17" After some research we found the bridge height was infact 15 " .If we didn't go under this one , we would be caught waiting for 2 and 1/2 hours! So we calculated we had about 6 " to spare if we did not count the antenna, and decided to risk it. Made for a scary moment but we made it allowing the whippy anntenna to bend just under the bridge.The other boat we had been following and another boat that had joined us on the way ,did not have the same luxury and had to wait it out. We arrived into Waterside marina in Norfolk at 5pm. Jean and Gene headed north in a rental car and we spent the night having dinner on board after a drink in the cockpit watching the sun set . Relaxing evening with some TV watching and then bed.Along day but very pleasant. It was such fun having our friends on board for this journey and confirmed to us why we did such a crazy thing and bought this new Sabre 48
so soon after our new Sabre 40.The 48 is so much more suitable for two couples.
Over and Out on the Lady Erica.