Pedasi Fishing

Featuring spacious lots fronting two pristine, sandy beaches, this 40-hectare project offers spectacular views right on the Pacific Ocean, just ten minutes from the charming town of Pedasí.  The community will house extensive recreational facilities, with basketball, volleyball and tennis courts, a community pool and children’s playground, as well as a business and commercial center.

With a beach club onsite, homeowners can take advantage of the abundant sport-fishing in the coastal waters — known as the ‘Tuna Coast’.  Yellow-fin tuna, marlin, mahi-mahi, wahoo, sailfish, snapper and more ride the deep ocean currents that run close to shore here, making the area ideal for light-tackle enthusiasts.

Small breaks on the project’s two beaches allow kids to hone their surfing skills, while Playa Venao, just thirty minutes’ drive westward, offers a more serious challenge for dedicated surfers; its consistent beach break goes left and right, attracting surfers from all over the world.

Facing Andromeda is Isla Iguana, an island nature with powdery soft white beaches, thanks to an extensive coral reef surrounding the island, which houses a myriad marine species at just a few feet’s depth.  The island is a favorite haunt for scuba divers and snorkelers, or families looking to spend a day lazing in crystal-clear aquamarine waters.

Nearby, Isla Cañas can receive hundreds of pregnant turtles in a single night to lay eggs along its 14-kilometer long beach.  A little further afield, the Cerro Joya National Park offers hiking through pristine rainforest, with several waterfalls, monkeys and hundreds of birds species.

Despite the old-world, natural setting, the modern world is still very much present.  Surfers can be seen hunched over laptop computers and fresh-blended smoothies at a local café in Pedasí town.  The infrastructure is in excellent condition, thanks in no small part to former Panama President Mireya Moscosa, a Pedasí native who gave back to her community.

“The infrastructure in Panama is very different from the rest of Central America,” agrees Mr Rudas.  “Roads are in place, well lit, signposted.  Everything here is big business, high luxury.”

In many ways, he and his partners believe the current economic crisis will do a great deal to boost Panama’s profile. With stock markets so volatile, many investors are looking for more stable investment vehicles, and turning to land as a valuable resource in finite supply.

“And out here, it’s this perfect combination of weather, activities like sport-fishing and surfing, and necessary modern amenities, that makes Pedasí such an ideal setting,” he adds.  “I really believe in this area, and in Panama.   Life here is a dream.”

The cost of living in Pedasi Panama is lower than the US and much lower than Western Europe. For example, electricity costs approximately 10-12 cents per kilowatt hour depending on the area, water and trash collection costs around $7 per month.

A full-time, live-in maid will cost approximately $150 per month. A taxi will charge $2 to virtually any destination within reason, and a North American style cinema will cost under $4. An afternoon at the beauty salon will run approximately $8 and dinner at the most luxurious restaurant (including appetizers, drinks, sides, and tip) will cost approximately $50 for two.

Direct TV, telephone and internet services vary according to the plans chosen. Direct TV with a wide choice of English language channels is approximately $50 per month. Locally produced vegetables, meat and fish are priced considerably lower than in the USA although imported items may be slightly higher.

The minimum wage for housemaids or gardeners is 88 cents per hour. Local beer at the supermarket costs 50 cents per can, a coffee in a restaurant may be as little as 50 cents.

Panama currently has an undervalued real estate market; however as has happened in countries like Costa Rica, Mexico and Ireland, prices are beginning to rise as more people discover the advantages, benefits, and distinctive quality of life Panama offers.

Scientifically, what singles out the Azuero Peninsula from other destinations (in the Americas) is the proximity of Pedasi to the continental shelf and the Humboldt Current that sweeps an enormous amount of marine life inshore. This marine phenomenon separates Pedasi from any other place in North and Central America.

The Achotines laboratory was strategically founded in 1985 to study early life stages of near-shore tropical yellowfin tunas. Pedasi was prioritized in Central and South America for these studies. The Achotines laboratory is now not only a scientifically successful operation but also a tourist attraction that explains why Pedasi is known to fishermen and tourists as The Tuna Coast (another brand and association of Pedasi).

These scientific reasons distinctly separate Pedasi from a majority of other places such as Costa Rica (in particular the Manuel Antonio, Quepos and Guanacaste regions) and US places like Key West, The Outer banks of North Carolina, Virginia Beach’s Chesapeake Bay, and the east coast in Florida.

Pedasi fishermen are trolling waters for yellowfin tuna or diving in live coral reef just 15 minutes from leaving the shore. What other fishing destinations in the world still offer these possibilities?

Isla Iguana is located 320 kilometers south east of Panama City, in the district of Pedasi, in the province of Los Santos. Isla Iguana is 7 kilometers from the coast, 53 hectares in area and home to 20 hectares of spectacular coral reef that holds 11 species of corals and spanning more than 4,800 years in age and it is home to more than 542 species of fish.

The island is also the home to more than 2,000 frigate birds and home of the whitest beach in the country of Panama, with crystal clear waters that are easy to swim in even for the youngest of age.

Isla Iguana was declared a national park in 1980, and an officially protected ecological and tourist destination. It is also protected by the CIPA association which protects birds on the island. The protection of this island has had a positive and significant socioeconomic benefit among local fishermen who have depended on the island’s marine resources for many years.

There are giant schools of red snapper (lutjanus sp), Grouper (epinephelus panamensis) and several other species, including wahoo, dorado, yellow fin tuna, sailfish and roosterfish.

The Pedasi coast is popular for tourists who come to watch whales, turtles lay their eggs, scuba dive, and surf and of course for the year round world class fishing.