The first time I tried to post my trip report, I somehow managed to delete it, so this time I did it on Word and now here it is finally:

Part 1
I have never really written up a trip report and I feel I should give a little something back to all who have never gone, been thinking of going or just love reading trip reports.
My son, Brandon (age 10) and I flew American out of Phila. to San Juan and then to Bonaire. Plane had an hour delay waiting to take off in Phila., but didn’t bother us as we had a long layover in San Juan. San Juan to Bonaire was uneventful as well and landed in Bonaire on time. I have been going to Bonaire for well over 10 years and didn’t know of Bonaire Talk till a couple years ago. This website has been a source of great info and I have made many friendships and look forward to meeting a BT’r anytime in the states or on Bonaire. Anyone who hangs around BT a while knows that when you meet another person from BT, it is like, a bond is already there and it’s a beautiful thing to share time with the folks here.
On with my report: I came the last two weeks of August and stayed at my place of course. This time around the wind had not died yet as it had the last year the same time, making it very nice. Since my hubby was going to be joining me a week later, my trip report will have a mix of snorkeling and diving as I always wait for my buddy to dive.
The south side was so calm, that Brandon and decided to try snorkeling that end and see what we could see. We went all the way down to Chocoggo (sp) and it was great, Sea Turtle on our first snorkel and lots of eels and all the regular tropical fish. The next stop was Tori’s Reef and this was a very interesting snorkel. We put our fins and snorkel on in the little channel and just stuck our faces in the water when what do we see, but a snook at least four and half feet right there in the channel no less! Brandon had never seen one before so it was special for him and then we decide to snorkel across the sand to the reef to see what may be there and are rewarded with a queen triggerfish, pretty rare on Bonaire, at least for me anyway, and a southern ray who is known to hang around there! Well, the rocks to the left of the channel are just filled with all sort of juvies and eels of all kinds in the shallows. Really a great snorkel. Vista Blue was another great spot as well. Invisibles is a great spot with easy entry for those who want a shallow snorkel and all to be seen is in less than 20 feet in the shallows. My son spotted a green moray between a couple of brain coral getting a cleaning and I found an octopus and watched him for awhile change colors and all. Thousand Steps was a very good snorkel where we saw a lot of cool fish. There were so many schools of fish this trip that it was super to see. Bogas, bonefish, mackeral scads to name a few. Lots of eagle rays and southern rays were found too. A great time to be on Bonaire for sure we decided.
Night Snorkeling: O.K. I am not a big fan of this, but my son is and I wanted to be a good mom and go with him, so we decide to go to the Divi. We hit the water and we are enjoying see a lobster and some eels, when I feel something hit my leg. I am thinking my son is too close to me and tell him to move a little to not clip me with his fin, he tells me he didn’t, so now it happens again. I turn around to see what is hitting my leg and it’s this huge tarpon. Before I get a chance to tell my son, it slides right next to him side by side and you should have seen his face! He yells “Mom!” and I just start cracking up because I know he thought shark first seeing all that silver up close and personal. He realizes it’s a tarpon by then hunting for food by our dive lites and my son is 5 foot tall and this tarpon was just as long as him. Again, I wished for a camera to have taken a picture of the two of them side by side, but he did enjoy seeing one that close until he ate a fish we were looking at and you could hear his jaws snap shut when he dove swiftly for the fish. We decided we were not going to help him out with any more meals and went in to shore. So, if you go night snorkeling at the Divi, there is one very aggressive tarpon there and look out for him! He gets close enough to kiss!
Now, onto the diving, we did all our dives on the south side as the weather was superb for it. Some of the sites we found really nice were The Lake, Angel City really rocks this time, Vista Blue, Sweet Dreams, Fish Hut South really rocks too, were super with eagle rays, southern rays, sea turtles, and btw, lots of tarpon this trip too! Schools and schools of fish to be seen everywhere and we just really enjoyed the diving big time. Vis was great, coral was so vibrant and fish everywhere. I really wish I had a camera when a whole school of Sarge’s swam by me and engulfed me. I thought of everyone on BT and said, now this would make a great pic! Of course, I didn’t have a camera, never do when you want one. The diving on the south side was so spectacular this trip, definitely a good time of year to do the south! I like the dive sites on the north too, just couldn’t get away from the south to do any this trip. The sea was like a sheet of glass and just had take advantage. This time diving was special too for us too, as we got our son his own b/c and reg and all three of us could dive together! That was so cool with all of us being together under the sea! Great family bonding time for sure!
Hubby is busting on me right now, calling me computer lady, when are you going to get off, so I will continue with part 2 later.

Debbie, I am so enjoying your trip report. It feels like I am in the water with you!! I love the tarpon story and the Queen Trigger was an awesome find!!!! I saw one about 4 years ago but it was too deep to really enjoy. My turn is almost here!

Good stuff Debbie! Certainly whetting the appetite

Hi Darlene, finding that Queen Triggerfish was surely a highlight of my trip and I was just snorkeling, so just proves that you don't have to go diving all the time to see cool stuff!

Debbie, I knew that all along! ;)

Debbie - I'm just getting the time to go through the trip reports. Thank you so much for taking the time to write yours.
You're correct about it helping those of us who haven't yet gone. I must confess to having a little too much information to process - but I'd rather have too many places on the must do list than not enough.
I especially appreciated your comment about taking advantage of the water on the south side rather than forcing trips to other parts. It gives you many more excuses to return (like you need them )
Again thanks for taking the time "Computer Lady!"
On to part 2 !!

! That would be kind of spooky having a tarpon come up to you like that, but awesome too!