All the waters surrounding Bonaire and the little island off Kralendijk, Klein Bonaire, were declared a protected marine park several years ago. The government conducted an intensive campaign to preserve the island's marine and wildlife, giving up cruise ship tourism and money. Instead, it attracted the more environmentally minded scuba and snorkeling tourists who come to the island to see the impressive marine life and reefs that surround it. We were told that residents of the island protect their environment with passion, going out of their way to pick up garbage and disposing of it in the many cans provided everywhere. All of these efforts have resulted in the island reportedly having the most abundant and diverse marine life in the Caribbean.

The island has been set up to facilitate diving and snorkeling. Even though Bonaire is only 24 miles long by 4-5 miles wide it has about 60 marked diving sites. Kein Bonaire, which is a deserted tiny island, has 24 marked sites. Each site has been given a name, has well marked entrances to the ocean for easy access and to prevent damage to the coral life. One can drive around the entire island and go from dive site to dive site. For each site information is provided about the diving skill level as well the type of marine life one can expect to see. The marine life that can be seeing is vast, from just about every coral fish one can find in the Caribbean to turtles and large fish such as dolphins and sharks! Obviously, given our (minimum) experience level, the 4 sites we managed to dive/snorkel in two days were for low to moderate skill levels and we did not have any encounters with exciting creatures such as sharks.