Tides & Towns
Puerto Rico · PR

Mona Island

Pirates, guano and giant iguanas in the Mona Passage.

Forest reserve
1919
Turtle nests
1,500+ a year

Then

  1. 12th century

    The Taíno settle the island, or earlier.

  2. 1494

    Columbus reputedly sights it on September 24.

  3. 1699

    Captain Kidd hides out here.

  4. Mid-1800s–1927

    Guano is mined commercially.

  5. 1919

    Mona is declared a forest reserve on December 22.

Now

No one lives here except visiting rangers and biologists. The Mona ground iguana lives nowhere else, and hawksbill turtles lay more than 1,500 clutches a year.

2 tide stations around Mona Island

Sources