Punta Guaniquilla

Punta Guaniquilla Nature Reserve
Reserva Natural de Punta Guaniquilla
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Karst formations at Laguna Guaniquilla
Location	Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
Nearest city	Boquerón, Cabo Rojo
Coordinates	18°2′15″N 67°12′27″W / 18.03750°N 67.20750°W / 18.03750; -67.20750
Area	463 cda (450 acres)
Established	1977
Governing body	Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA)

Punta Guaniquilla (Spanish for Point Guaniquilla) is a headland or small peninsula located immediately to the south of Buyé Beach and north of Boquerón Bay in the municipality of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.^[1] The entirety of the headland is protected as the Punta Guaniquilla Nature Reserve (Reserva Natural Punta Guaniquilla) by the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico, or DRNA for short) since 1977, making it one of the oldest nature reserves officially protected by Puerto Rico Law #150.^[2]

The nature reserve is famous for its otherworldly lagoon that contains some of the oldest geologic formations in Puerto Rico, in addition to its beaches, coral reefs, mangroves, dry forests and karst caves, one of which is associated with the pirate and folk figure Roberto Cofresí.^[3] Apart from its ecological value, the nature reserve also contains and preserves important archaeological sites associated with the indigenous Taino cultures and, more recently, Hacienda La Romana, a 19th-century sugarcane plantation.^[1]