Pineapple Princess (Day 7) [a.k.a. Won't You Let Me Take You On A Sea Cruise?]

Our last full day in Hawaii was full of wildlife. We started our day with a visit from this little friend, a gecko who I named Geico. I can understand how people who live in gecko-infested areas view them as disgusting vermin, but since I don't, I think they're cool. And I took his picture.

After our gecko-sighting, we got in the car and drove to Turtle Bay, on the North Shore of the island, to look for turtles.There's a gorgeous resort right on the bay.

This is me standing on the beach with my bizarre tan lines.

While we were there, we did indeed see some sea turtles! Unfortunately, my underwater camera pictures didn't turn out, and while I think there is a good picture on Katy's camera, I don't have her pictures yet. So you'll have to settle for the other kind of sea life we saw, the mysterious Apricot Poodlefish.

Our turtle quest having been completed, we stopped at Giovanni's again on the way back to Waikiki. We also visited a restroom in a McDonald's in Haleiwa that had some very strange rules about usage times:

That evening, Mary very generously treated us to a dinner cruise on the Star of Honolulu:Tricia and me waiting to board the boat. I got that pretty necklace at the Aloha Stadium swap meet.
We were seated by a window, which was also right by the appetizer tray :-)
There was a spectacular view from the window. We saw a double rainbow over Honolulu,
Diamond Head,
and a gorgeous sunset over the Pacific.The food was also fantastic. In addition to the appetizer table and the salad, we had lobster,
steak,
and dessert. Taryn, note the polka dots!
There was also entertainment on the cruise, including the emcee, who looked very very much like Harry Belafonte:
At one point, he asked if anyone was having a birthday. Of course, Katy raised Mary's hand, and made her go up to the front of the room. Harry Belafonte then made her dance around with the Japanese tourists who were also having a birthday.Note the Japanese tourist sitting at the table, wearing a baseball cap. His table got progressively louder and drunker as the evening wore on. The Japanese lady stading up with the birthday crowd was from his group, so I don't know if they were just in a very celebratory mood, or if they thought it would be fun to torture their friend by pretending it was her birthday. Not that we did that at all or anything.

Later, they played the YMCA. No one would get up with us and the Japanese tourists to do the dance, so Mary and I did the dance in our seats. (Side note - isn't my dress pretty? Ask Carter about it.)
Mary also made friends with some of the luau dancers. When it's your fake birthday, everyone wants to get their picture taken with you!
After the cruise, we went inside Aloha Tower, where they had this super cool fish-tiled wall. I decided I wanted to be a fish too.
And then we retired to the Barefoot Bar at the Hale Koa, where Mary practiced her cougar moves, and no one would do the chicken dance with us.