Los Roques Archipelago

Los Roques

Geography
Location	Caribbean Sea
Coordinates	11°51′27″N 66°45′27″W
Area	40.61 km2 (15.68 sq mi)
Administration
Venezuela
Demographics
Population	1800
Pop. density	44.32/km2 (114.79/sq mi)

File:Cayo de Agua los roques venezuela.jpg

Cayo de Agua, Los Roques

The Los Roques islands are a federal dependency of Venezuela, consisting of about 350 islands, cays or islets. The archipelago is an atoll located 80 miles (128 km) directly north of the port of La Guaira, and is a 40-minute flight, has a total area of 40.61 square kilometres. Being almost an untouched coral reef, it attracts many visitors, especially from Europe, some of which come in their own yachts and anchor in the inner, protected shallow waters. However, development and tourism are controlled.

Because of the wide variety of seabirds and rich aquatic life, the Venezuelan government declared Los Roques a National Park in 1972.

Demographics

It is scarcely populated, having about 1,500 permanent inhabitants; however it receives approximately 70,000 visitors a year, many of them day-visitors who come from Caracas and the mainland.

Geography

Los Roques has an atoll structure, with two external barriers formed by coral communities, too, an inner lagoon and sandy shallows. This park consists of 40.61 km ², 1500 km ² of coral reefs, 42 coral cays of origin surrounding a central lagoon of 400 km ² and shallow waters, 2 barrier reef (24 km east and south of 32 km) and 300 sand banks, islands and cays, ranging from a considerable area, as Cayo Grande de 15,1 km ², to the Gran Roque is only 1.7 km ² (170 hectares) in extent.

Infrastructure

The most important island is El Gran Roque. It is the only populated island in the group and has an airport suitable for small or STOL aircraft, Los Roques Airport, with freshly repaved RWY 07/25 (1000 × 26 meters). The airport is controlled from the Maiquetía airport on the mainland. Other important islands are Francisqui, Nordisqui, Madrisqui and Crasqui.

Area attractions

File:Franciski los roques venezuela.jpg

Cayo Francisquí, Los Roques

Activities include fishing (bonefish, barracuda, tarpon, jack (Carangidae) and Spanish mackerel), birding, snorkeling, diving, and kite-surfing, and there is a sea turtle research center located on El Gran Roque. Accommodations include Pez Raton Lodge, a property primarily used to host fishing guests, and Posada Mediterraneo, a five-room inn which accommodates non-fishing guests.

History

There is no doubt that previous to the discovery these islands had already been sighted by European navigators. However, it was not until 1589 when the then governor of the Venezuelan province ordered the formal take over of these islands on behalf of the colony. The Dutch considered Los Roques to belong to their island territory of Curaçao because of its proximity to Bonaire which also belonged to the Dutch. The author M.D. Teenstra in 1836 still writes (in his book "The Dutch West Indies"): The Government of Curaçao also includes the uninhabited islets and rocks Little Curaçao, Aves, Roques and Orchilla. Los Roques was featured in the "Where in The World" series on flightsim.com (#22). In 1871 the then president Antonio Guzmán Blanco created by decree the Territorio Colón (Columbus territory) which included Los Roques and other adjacent islands. The island of Gran Roque was named as the center of territory government.

External Links

• Book "Los Ídolos de Las Islas Prometidas", about the prehispanic Arqueology of the Archipelago (In English and in Spanish)
• Photo gallery of Los Roques (English)
• Los Roques and official info (Spanish)
• Los Roques sailing yacht charter (English)
• Scientific Foundation of Los Roques (Spanish)