Bonaire National Marine Park, Protected marine reserve in Bonaire, Netherlands.
Bonaire National Marine Park is a protected marine area that wraps around the entire island of Bonaire and the smaller Klein Bonaire island in the Caribbean. It covers coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests from the shoreline down to deeper open water.
The area was protected in 1979 after overfishing and anchor damage had taken a serious toll on the reefs. It became a national park in 1999, and Klein Bonaire was added to the protected zone shortly after.
Local divers often describe the reef as a shared responsibility, and many residents learn to dive young as part of growing up on the island. Visitors who join a guided dive may find that their guide grew up swimming above the very coral they are now exploring together.
Most dive and snorkel spots along the western shore can be reached directly from the beach without a boat. Conditions are generally calmer between October and April, which makes that period easier for less experienced swimmers.
The reefs around Bonaire are among the few in the Caribbean where coral coverage has not dropped sharply over recent decades. One reason is an early ban on anchoring in coral areas, which helped limit physical damage to the reef before it became widespread elsewhere.
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