Pedasi Fishing

Nestled between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean…on the slim precipice between the Americas…a little country with a lot to offer awaits you. Sophisticated shopping and sublime shores, expatriate enclaves and secluded sanctuaries, rainforest canopies and rolling green hillsides stability and safety, wilderness and adventure.

A booming economy, an affordable cost of living, the world’s best retirement incentive program, excellent weather. Panama’s attributes seem endless and there’s never been a better time in the last decade to look at relocating to Panama.

Directly across the street is a house selling Panamanian arts and crafts. I can see clay pots tinged with burnt orange and yellow precisely the shade of French’s mustard. A white woven hammock sways lazily in the light breeze, and the few people on the street seem to be in no hurry. There are no power-walkers this morning, no suit-and-ties rushing to work.

This is not a destination for rushing…or for shopping or theater-going. If you need an active night life to keep you happy, Pedasi may not be for you. But if you’re looking to retire, relocate, or just buy a second home in “the real Panama,” this little beach town may be the answer.
Pedasi is known as the “tuna coast,” and it has been a destination for sport fishermen for years (the town even hosts an annual fishing tournament). Here the coastal shelf drops off suddenly to provide deep water fishing a short distance from shore. Yellow fin tuna, sailfish, wahoo, and dorado are among the regular catches. Expat Linda Mckee says: “In Pedasi, I am in seafood heaven…clams, conch, lobster, and oysters are available daily.”

Within an hour’s drive there are 11 different beaches, all clean and easily accessible. The sands vary from deep bronze to the sparkling volcanic black. The roads to Pedasi are first-class and the sleepy village is probably one of the best maintained towns in Panama. New businesses are springing up to offer fishing, snorkeling, and diving trips. There are unlimited opportunities for small businesses and niches to be filled. The town could use more restaurants, a fish market, a deli or bakery, a bookstore, or a high-end internet café.

Local businesses are intent on making it easier for everyone to get to know Pedasi. Expat entrepreneur Casey Halloran, who owns B&B Casita Margarita, is the area’s most vocal supporter. After many months of lobbying, he convinced local airline Aeroperlas to offer flights to Pedasi. Now instead of driving four hours from Panama City, you can fly here in under an hour.

Pedasi has long been a secret (though local developers say celebrities like Mel Gibson began to invest here long ago). Ask Panamanians for beach recommendations and they’ll name Coronado, Bocas del Toro, and San Blas…but hardly ever Pedasi. Five years ago, Pedasi was hardly frequented by expats. But with new hotels, restaurants, and now flights to the area, growth seems to be accelerating and the expat community is growing. Now is the time to visit…

I’ll talk about Pedasi (and show photos) at International Living’s Live and Invest in Panama Seminar in April. You still have time to register for this event and claim the big Early Bird discounts.

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.

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?

Pedasi now hosts an annual fishing tournament held by Pedasi Fishing, another local sport-fishing outfit, which this year drew dozens of boats and hundreds of spectators over the weekend-long competition. In fact, it is the abundant fishing, in addition to the area’s dry climate, clear waters and country charms that have drawn increased tourism and development to the area in recent years.

While Pedasi boasts a small marina for launching small and mid-size boats, Mr. Grimes says a world-class marina would boost the area’s profile to no end.  “We need a marina,” he says emphatically. “I can’t tell you the number of people with money, that have boats, that want to come here. To support the type of activity that I can see happening here, you need a first-class marina.”Everyone agrees that a large-scale marina will do much to boost Pedasi’s reputation in the sport-fishing world, but even without it, the word is spreading fast.

Many developers are targeting fishing enthusiasts, building gated communities tailored to their needs, with beach clubs and waterfront storage lockers to easily store fishing gear.

“Pedasi is far from everything, and really authentic. You can fish, surf, bike, ride horses, all in a very special place,” says Daniel Rudas of Dekel Panama S.A., the development group building Andromeda Pedasi, the town’s first vacation community, slated to begin construction in early 2009.

He and his partners hope to attract serious sport-fishers among their clients, envisioning a multitude of fishing yachts anchored offshore in Pedasi’s future.

Tourists and developers aren’t the only ones drawn to the bounty of these Pacific waters. Marine scientists from around the world visit the Achotines Laboratory, in face of the Frailes Islands. The laboratory has been operating in the Pedasi district since 1985, studying the life cycle of yellow-fin tuna. Because their numbers are so plentiful in the waters offshore, scientists can easily collect dozens of juvenile tuna to raise and breed in large, specially-made tanks.

Their studies are helping to provide clues as to the feeding, breeding and migration habits of these tuna in the wild — about which little is known to date — in hopes of instituting conservation programs to prevent the population loss seen in the blue fin tuna, whose flesh is so prized for sushi and other Asian dishes.

“The commission (the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, which oversees the Achotines Laboratory) also works to reduce tuna by-catch,” says lab technician Daniel Perez, “through experimental nets with escape hatches to see if juvenile fish are able to escape while restraining mature tuna.”

Future studies will also include sailfish, he says, which is good news for sport-fishers; their work will help ensure game fish off Pedasi remain plentiful for generations to come.