Klein Bonaire (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
for "little Bonaire") is a small uninhabited
isletAn islet is a 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
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
island of
BonaireThe Island Territory of Bonaire is one of five island areas of the Netherlands Antilles, consisting of the main island of Bonaire and, nestled in its western crescent, the uninhabited islet of Klein 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 are some ruins of slave huts (small, single-room structures dating to the region's
period of slaveryThe Netherlands Antilles were colonized by the Netherlands in the 17th century. They were once the center of the Caribbean slave trade.The island of Curaçao was hit hard by the abolition of slavery in 1863. Its prosperity was restored in the early 20th century with the construction of oil...
.)
From the shore of Bonaire to the shore of Klein Bonaire is about 800 metres (0.5 mi) at the nearest point.
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Klein Bonaire (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
for "little Bonaire") is a small uninhabited
isletAn islet is a 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
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
island of
BonaireThe Island Territory of Bonaire is one of five island areas of the Netherlands Antilles, consisting of the main island of Bonaire and, nestled in its western crescent, the uninhabited islet of Klein 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 are some ruins of slave huts (small, single-room structures dating to the region's
period of slaveryThe Netherlands Antilles were colonized by the Netherlands in the 17th century. They were once the center of the Caribbean slave trade.The island of Curaçao was hit hard by the abolition of slavery in 1863. Its prosperity was restored in the early 20th century with the construction of oil...
.)
From the shore of Bonaire to the shore of Klein Bonaire is about 800 metres (0.5 mi) at the nearest point. The distance is frequently traversed by private and commercial boats and can be done by
kayakA kayak is a small human-powered boat. It typically has a covered deck, and a cockpit covered by a spraydeck also known as a skirt. The kayak was used by the native Ainu, Aleut and Eskimo hunters in sub-Arctic regions of northeastern Asia, North America and Greenland. It historically was, and...
with some difficulty. The primary attraction for visitors is
scuba divingScuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater for recreation, commercial or industrial reasons.Unlike early diving, which relied exclusively on air pumped from the surface, scuba...
and
snorkelingSnorkeling 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 reefCoral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms, found in marine waters containing few nutrients. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate...
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.
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