The park was established in 1979 and covers 2700 hectares (6700 acres) and includes a coral reef, seagrass, and mangrove vegetation.

The uninhabited island Klein Bonaire was added to the underwater park as a legally protected nature reserve in 2001.

In the seagrass beds, one can find a nursery for reef fish and a foraging ground for endangered queen conch and green turtles as well.

The 700-acre lagoon has been a Ramsar site[7] since the 1980s, offering habitat to green sea turtle and other endangered species, such as queen conch (Strombus gigas).

[8] Already in 1939, the famous diving pioneer Hans Hass visited Bonaire and reported in his books on the rich underwater world.

[10] In the Bonaire Marine Park, Dixon et al. (1994) found that most divers seldom venture further than 300 m in one direction and that there was a decreasing physical impact on reef communities with increasing distance from a mooring buoy.

Analyzing coral cover, they estimate that the diver carrying capacity threshold for the Bonaire Marine Park is between 4000 and 6000 dives per site per year.

[11][12] In addition, various activities such as kitesurfing, sailing and windsurfing are offered in the area of the Bonaire National Marine Park.

Other users, such as swimmers, surfers, kite boarders, kayakers and water sports enthusiasts, pay a lower entrance fee.

In addition to nature protection, the BNMP provides information about responsible diving to tourists and the maintenance of moorings (buoys) for boats with divers.