Bonaire is an island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is Kralendijk, located near the ocean on the lee side of the island. Bonaire, Aruba and Curaçao form the ABC islands located less than one hundred miles northwest of Venezuela. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, the ABC islands lie outside Hurricane Alley. The islands have an arid climate that attracts visitors seeking warm, sunny weather year round. Bonaire is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination because of its multiple shore diving sites and easy access to the island's fringing reefs. As of 1 January 2016, the island's population totaled approximately 19,408 permanent residents, an increase of 500 from 2015. The island's total land area is 288 square kilometres ; it is 38.6 kilometres long from north to south, and ranges from 4.8–8 kilometres wide from east to west. A short 0.80 kilometres west of Bonaire across the sea is the uninhabited islet Klein Bonaire with a total land area of 6 km2 . Klein has low growing vegetation, no trees, and is bordered by white sandy beaches and a fringing reef. The reefs, beaches and on-island reserves located on both Bonaire and Klein Bonaire are under the protection of the Bonaire National Marine Park, and managed by Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire .Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the country's dissolution in 2010, when the island became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands. It is one of the three BES islands in the Caribbean, along with Sint Eustatius and Saba. An 80% majority of Bonaire's population are Dutch nationals, and nearly 60% of its residents were born in the former Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
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