Another day in Manteo

June 20, 2013

Today was a windy, cool day. The marina is full of boats.  There is a group from the National Sailing Association and this afternoon a few boats from the Hampton Yacht Club pulled in from their Intracoastal Waterway trip.  The marina was so full, they decided to dock a large boat right behind us. They had to run the electrical across our boat to get to the dock.  

New view from stern

The couple aboard the ship were very friendly and Charlie and the captain started sharing technology tips.  They both like www.activecaptain.com to get up to date information on shoaling and other cruising info for the waterways (including marinas and anchorage).   Activecaptain integrates into other tools as well. Charlie like to use the navypolar app  (in the app store it is called Polarview MX)  for a complimentary tool. Activecaptain is integrated into that tool.   The icons of flags can be clicked on to show marina ratings/info, the yellow cross skull is a hazard warning for shoaling, the green anchors are anchorage ratings/info.  We can click an icon and it will place our boat on the map and as we move the boat, our boat moves with the map.  The captain of the boat behind us said he uses the Garmin app on his ipad. He said you have to buy the charts, but it allows you to only load the charts you need. 

  Charlie also like the MarineUS app for the ipad and iphone.  A picture of that app is below.

It is a simple app, but the gps works well.  Our boat is the red dot.  We like to chart our trips and then take a picture from MarineUS using the ipad/iphone screen capture.   

We decided to go to Festival Park today which has a nice pedestrian walkway right beside the Manteo Waterfront Marina where we are docked.  We took Bella with us and it turned out to be a very nice park.  It has a history museum and a replica of the Elilzabeth II.   

Elizabeth II replica

We decided instead, to walk on the free path that follows the coastline of the small island park.  There is a nice stage on the water that hosts concerts on the lawn during the summer.  It was a quiet, pretty park. We decided we could walk Bella in the morning and the evening.  Even though the history center has hours 9-5, the park seems to be open all the time.

Festival Park Path

 

View from park path

Afterwards, we opted to take a bike ride down the bike path again.  The tourist information stated that the largest scuppernong grapevine (said to date to the 1500’s) on the island can be found on Mother Vineyard Road.  The literature reads,  “a delightful detour from the main path.. beautiful and serene."  We put Bella in her basket and biked to the detour.  We turned on Winery Rd from Mother Vineyard Road and decided it was so quiet that I could let Bella run beside our bikes on leash so she would get some exercise. Charlie was ahead of me and Bella chased him while I held on to her.  All was going well until we passed a home that had two loose dogs at the end of a driveway. I looked to my right and the dogs were charging me at full speed, barking viciously.  I yelled to Charlie who was around the bend, stopped my bike and straddled the bar still holding the leash for Bella.   I saw a lady come running down the driveway after her dogs.  In a split second, I had to make a decision. I could not get to Bella fast enough, but I was afraid to let her go because if she ran and they chased her, it could be fatal. In the next moment, one of the dogs took a hold of Bella’s back and bit her while tossing her aside and then going in for the kill.  All I could do was lunge my body at the dog and scream a very high pitch “NO!” – falling to the pavement with the bike still straddled between my legs.  I was expecting a blood bath, but my scream seemed to scare him .  He crouched down and looked me straight in the eye as I was now sprawled on the pavement right next to him.  The lady pulled him away.  Charlie came running up at that moment and picked Bella up and put her in the basket of the bike.  He helped me get up and detangle myself from the bike.  I went over to Bella. She wouldn’t let us touch her. She screamed and growled when we tried to check the wound. She was very scared and traumatized.   The lady put her dogs away and came to us. She said I was hurt and pointed to me knee. I looked down at my knee and it was scraped up pretty bad. Blood was rolling down.  She said she was so sorry and that I should have kicked the dog.  She asked me to come up to house so she could clean me up.  I stayed outside while she went in the house. She came out with a wash cloth and some bandage. I decided against the bandage. I asked her what was wrong with her dog. She said she didn’t know. She said that he does that to dogs on leashes. She has been working with him, but it doesn’t seem to be getting better. I told her he was vicious. She told me he had all his shots and she gave me her name and phone number. Charlie took a picture of the house in case we needed the address.

Bella was calmer by then and we checked her over. Unbelievably, she was not bleeding.  In fact, we couldn’t find the wound. I was in worse shape than she was.  We biked back to the boat with Charlie handling Bella in the basket. Soon we passed the Manteo police department and a policeman was sitting in his car.  We talked to him about the incident and he said it was not their territory, it was the sheriff’s territory and he gave us the non emergency number. Then he said, “But should I call an ambulance? You seem to be hurt pretty bad.”  I looked down at my knee and it was a bloody mess. But I really didn’t think it was a very deep wound, so I declined.  We got back to the boat and Charlie helped me clean the wound and put a bandage on it.  He biked to a pharmacy and purchased more hydrogen peroxide and bandages.    Charlie was very worried and suggested we cancel the boat trip.  But I really felt like I would be ok.  We then called the non emergency number, but they told us to call spca/animal control in the morning. (We just want to make sure the dog attack was on record.) 

Knee injury next day

Update:  In the morning Charlie called the SPCA.  They knew all about the story already. (Wow, communication is fast in a small town.)  They said they knew the lady with the dogs and she had posted the incident on Facebook.  She described her dog as “misbehaving” again.  They told us that the dogs had their shots and they have had problems with them before.

So much for a peaceful, serene detour.  Saturday  we head for Ocracoke.