Klein Curacao

Klein Curacao - Little Curacao - lies two hours by boat southeast of the main island: a flat, uninhabited scrap of coral limestone with a long blinding-white beach on its lee side, water in surreal turquoise, and reliable green turtles grazing the shallows. Ashore stand a rusted nineteenth-century lighthouse you can wander into and the bow of a tanker wreck rusting into sculpture on the windward shore. Day boats bring breakfast, barbecue and shade huts; the crossing is open-ocean and lively, which keeps the island from ever being crowded in the resort sense.

What you actually see

• The white lee beach - the long sand strip with turquoise shallows.
• Turtle snorkelling - green turtles feeding close to shore.
• The old lighthouse - the rusting tower open to explore.
• The windward wrecks - ship remains on the rough east shore.

When to go

Trips run year round; the crossing is calmest roughly May to November, and the trade winds make December to April lumpier - seasickness tablets are standard advice regardless. Book ahead in high season; boats fill.

Honest expectations

The two-hour crossing is genuinely rough on many days and the boats say so - anyone prone to seasickness should medicate or reconsider. There is zero natural shade beyond the operators' huts, no water and no facilities beyond what boats bring; the sun is fierce. The windward side has dangerous currents - swim only on the lee beach. Turtles are wild: no touching, no chasing.

Nearby

Curacao's south-coast beaches and Willemstad.