Klein Bonaire
Encyclopedia
Islet
An islet is a very small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
off the west coast of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island of Bonaire, and is part of the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
special municipality of Bonaire. The islet, which sits within the rough crescent formed by the main island, is 6 square kilometres (1,500 acres) and extremely flat, rising no more than two meters above the sea. The only structures on the island are some ruins of slave huts (small, single-room structures dating to the region's period of slavery).
The distance from the shore of Bonaire to the shore of Klein Bonaire is about 800 metres (0.5 mi) at the nearest point. This span is frequently traversed by private and commercial boats and can be done by kayak
Kayak
A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
with some difficulty. The primary attraction for visitors is scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
and snorkeling
Snorkeling
Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn...
the pristine coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
surrounding the islet.
In 1868, Klein Bonaire was sold to Angel Jeserun and remained in private hands until 1999. Then it was purchased for 9 million Netherlands Antillean guilder (US$5 million) by the government of Bonaire, the World Nature Fund, and the Foundation to Preserve Klein Bonaire. It is now part of the Bonaire National Marine Park.