I have often thought about all of the places that I have been to over the last 5 years here in Panama and what spots I like the best. Well, that is a hard choice to make as there are so many places and the roads to paradise are expanding, opening up new areas all within 3 to 4 hours from my home here in Boquete. As I am often told “show me a map” I have annotated a GPS map that I use regularly to show the places and roadways to get there. You can refer back to this map with each section that I describe below.
Road to Chiriqui Grande
When I first came to Panama and visited the areas over the mountains from Boquete, the road to the Caribbean was a little rough and the trip to Chiriqui Grande took several hours. Now it takes only 2 and you can be in boat headed out to the archipelago of Bocas del Toro with hundreds of small island and numerous large ones, some of which are sparsely inhabited. A friend sent me a nice beach shot of some land on an island that he has there for sale and it is stunning. Reefs are just offshore and the place is like an aquarium.
Road to Boca Chica
Our new road from Boquete to David is about halfway finished and this will cut the trip time down to 20 minutes. That puts all of the goods, services and health care facilities within a short drive of home. As you drive east out of David, the next path is a turn off onto the roadway from the Pan American Highway down to the coastal area of Boca Chica. It was a horrible gravel road when I first came here and now it is paved and cuts the drive time from Boquete to an hour and a half. The beaches there are spectacular as are the hundreds of islands offshore.
In the Boca Chica vicinity, there are tracts of land for future development ranging from 20 hectares to several hundred hectares. If there is one place for a huge future in Panama, Boca Chica is that place. When the international airport opens up to direct flights, we will probably see some limited to medium size resort development in this market sector. We have identified several starter projects with some infrastructure in place, that would provide an investor with the benefit of “speed to market” when the tipping point occurs and that will be soon.
Road to Quebrada de Piedra
Our next road to paradise takes us further east to the check point in Guabala about 2 hours from Boquete. Before we go there, we sometimes stop at Las Lajas beach but I will not go into that in length as I posted a story about a recent trip there on my blog labeled Life is a Beach
We are generally waved through at the check point at Guabala as I am getting to know the people there and they know I am headed to Chad’s Paradise Fishing Lodge. The road off of the Pan American highway turns right directly past the check point and you head down the broken paved road towards Quebrada de Piedra. Kind of like what it was like driving to Boca Chica 5 years ago. The old Pan America highway takes you through a land that was lost since the new highway bypassed this area in the 60s. Well, that too will change shortly. The roadwork has begun and soon the leg from the new Pan America highway to Sona will be in full swing. Bridge components to improve the highway are already passing through daily. Here is a map showing you both the leg to Sona and the connection that will be completed soon to Santa Catalina. Now pay close attention as I am going somewhere with this.
Quebrada de Piedra is a jumping off spot to some of the best fishing grounds in this part of the world, Isla Montuosa and Hannibal Bank. It is also the closest point to reach Isla Coiba, the largest Island in the Pacific on this coast south of Vancouver. Diving, fishing, camping, hiking through rainforests and waterfalls and much, much more are all with in a hour or two by boat from this spot. Some of the best reefs in the eastern Pacific Ocean are in Coiba and it is a designated National Park and UNESCO site. It is no wonder that there are already properties being developed for hundreds of home sites, marinas and resorts that will be under way in this market segment very soon. There are also small, medium and large tracts of land available that offer significant upside potential over time. It is another area that is very uninhabited for now and drop dead gorgeous.
Road to Sona and Santa Catalina
Here is where it gets interesting. The roadway from Sona to Santa Catalina should be finished by mid year and will make the trip to Santa Catalina much much easier. Add the fact that the new road will connect with the one from Sona to the Pan American highway at Guabala and you have a much shorter trip from Boquete, say around 4 hours. You also have a whole new area nearby including Bahia Honda and Pixvae that most people even here in Panama no nothing about. This is a coast where few rivers come to sea and therefore the waters are crystal clear and the reef growth is spectaular. Not to mention the surf in Santa Catalina which was once described by a surfer friend of mine as a wave machine and sometimes the surf is huge.
Santa Catalina is pristine and totally undeveloped at this time but there are some huge bets in place on this section of the coast. One look and it does not take much to see why this is like so many places before it that took off and after a few years you could not touch the real estate. We can show you some of the gems here again small, medium or large tracts at very reasonable prices.
Well there is one more place that is right offshore of Santa Catalina that is also worth mentioning. Isla Cebaco, with over 8500 hectares or 20,000 acres covered in primary forest, it is also one of the most pristine and ecological zones in Central America. The beaches and rocky coastline are dramatic and again very much as it was a thousand years ago. Here is the home of a friend of mine who has a fishing club, Cebaco Bay .
Across the island from his place is a site I have of over 280 hectares or almost 700 acres for sale for $1,200,000. It is highly unlikely that you will ever see real estate deals like this in Panama again. Calm emerald waters, sand and pebble beaches and lush jungle interior.
That is it for now as I must hit the send button and head out to dinner with friends. Stay tuned for more on Santa Catalina, Cebaco and other areas that I think will be great bets for the future as the roads to paradise lead directly there.
Ciao’