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Nobody seems to like Boquete much. The complaints center around the
fact that Boquete is a very boring place. I first heard this complaint
from George Grant, Richmond Hill, Georgia in an International Living Readers
Article more than a year ago. I've begun to receive other eMail along
the same lines. Comments such as, "..I wish I never would have bought in
Boquete. It looks pretty, and it does have a nice climate, but there isn't
anything to do. My wife and I are not enjoying ourselves. I'm trying
to get out of the property I purchased, but with falling prices in the
area, it doesn't look promising. I am enclosing an article I read in the
Sacramento Bee, maybe your readers would like to know about Bocas."
The article on this page is the article mentioned. I contacted Shepard
Johnson, whose family is the subject of the article, and he invited me
to visit his project in Bocas. I had the greatest time I've had in
years. Bocas Del Toro is the most international city in Panama. European
tourists, European restaurants, American retirees, American surfers, a
huge community of people who know that they've discovered the best expatriate
location in the world. My recent trip to Bocas confirms this as a
very real fact.
What
makes Bocas Del Toro so inviting? - It's the wide range of activities
and the international flavor. Boquete will never be an international
community, merely a retirement location of sorts where people go to listen
to their hair fall out. Bocas Del Toro on the other hand has already
reached 'critical mass' as an international expat haven. Unlike Belize,
to make another comparison, Bocas has no hurricanes, no 'Rasta'
crime, no miles of tropical swamp, and no mosquitoes. Belize has no surf,
no decent cities in proximity where one can enjoy the city life.
Bocas is an hour from the high-tech international banking center of Panama
City, and minutes from the European ambiance of San Jose, Costa Rica. (In
fact it's only minutes by water ferry to Costa Rica, it's surfing is world
renown. There is more to do in Bocas Del Toro than anywhere else
in Central America. There is probably less to do in Boquete than
anywhere else on the planet. What an anomaly for two locations in the same
country.
| Boating,
Sailing, Zodiac Jamming - Everyone in the Bocas Del Toro Archipelago
seems to own a boat. In fact you can live in Bocas without a car,
but everyone wants a boat. Water taxis abound, but it's more fun
to jump in the family zodiac and go shopping, diving, surfing, fishing,
or just island hopping. The extraordinary calm and protected waters
of the Archipelago mean that one can go on the water 365 days a year. No
hurricanes or inclement weather, and an endless archipelago that is an
ecological paradise. |
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We
are creating an entire section on Bocas Del Toro - It should be ready
in a matter of a few weeks. Information on Isla Solarte is already online
and can be accessed on our website at the following link: <
More
On Isla Solarte > < Contact
Isla Solarte >
Isla Solarte is a planned expat haven on an island that allows one to live
in Bocas at a reasonable price. This article is a first in a series.
We'll have a large update in the upcoming issue of the Offshore Real Estate
Quarterly, due out later this month. See you in Bocas - |
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Surf Bocas - "Panama's surf scene is hot! - In Panama, you can surf un-crowded,
warm, perfect waves in a tropical paradise!" Panama
Surf Tours Quote provided
by the company of the same name. See our article in our Isla
Solarte Section for more on surfing in Panama and how to contact
Panama
Surf Tours. They have surf tours to Bocas - |
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Shephard Johnson
is no ordinary, developer of dreams. The Roseville man is taking 25 years
of California real estate experience and using it to build his dream development
in Panama on an island called Solarte. Johnson, 48, and family – wife Monte,
an Encina High School teacher, and young daughters Robin, 13, and Halley,
9 – got their feet wet in Costa Rica, where they lived from 1992 to 1995.
The idea in Costa Rica – to use his California experience to build a residential
community – fizzled when that country hit a recession. But it’s blossoming
one Central American country to the south, on Isla Solarte.
Solarte is one of the islands of Bocas
del Toro, an archipelago off the northeast corner of Panama, the strip
of a country that scientists have called a geologic wonder for the richness
of its flora and fauna. Johnson’s quest began several thousand miles north,
in his Sacramento commercial real estate office, when a colleague returned
from a trip to Costa Rica in 1992.
“He was in a daze for three months after,
all he could do was talk about it,” said Johnson. |
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The Johnsons began talking about the increasingly
hectic pace faced by two working parents and two growing daughters, ages
5 and 9 at the time. They visited Costa Rica in 1992 and decided to take
a gamble. “We wanted a break from the pace,” said Johnson, “And Costa Rica
seemed to offer a pace something like California in the ‘50’s.” They settled
on a 10-acre hilltop ranch with a 180-degree view of San Jose, the Costa
Rica capital. The University of California, Berkeley-trained architect
planned to put his 20 years of commercial real estate experience to work
building homes and a development overlooking the city. But recession hit,
and as the 1993 holiday season approached, they decided to sell their land
and have an adventure.
“We had heard about Bocas del Toro, but
there were no maps to show us how to get there,” said Johnson, “It was
a forgotten corner of Panama.”
The family took a long, two-day drive from
San Jose into Panama, traversed the continental divide and went to Chiriqui
Grande to catch a ferry to Almirante and then a boat that zipped them over
glassy seas to Bocas. “Because of my training in Architecture at UC Berkeley
I was always interested in a planned pedestrian community....,” said Johnson,
“When we stepped off the boat in Bocas, we saw first-hand a fantastic pedestrian
community. The main street was a block from the airport. All the services
were in easy walking distances. There was a park and a grandstand, and
the provincial government seat was in a classic Spanish building.”
“We fell in love with it.”
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American Teenagers -
Something you'll never see in Boquete. These girls are on Isla Solarte.
I met young people from around the world in Bocas Del Toro, some of whom
had come to Bocas on their own as travelers, and others who were part of
an expatriate family. These two loved Bocas Del Toro, and they loved
Isla Solarte. The area also has a large international surfer community,
with young people from around the world. I met more American retirees
in Bocas Del Toro than I have met anywhere else in Panama. The wide
range of expatriates, and expatriate lifestyles will serve to maintain
a diverse and interesting culture. (Bocas Del Toro has one of the lowest
crime rates in the world - It's a place where your children can grow up
safe.)
The Restaurant scene
is also good. One could eat in a different restaurant every day of
the week. Boquete has nothing to compare, which is why so many expats
are unhappy with Boquete. There is a very large European community in Bocas
Del Toro and many of the restaurants are European owned.
High mentions in most
travel books - There were groups of Scandinavian girls with backpacks,
blue water sailors who make Bocas there home port, scientists working for
one of the several scientific groups based in Bocas, such as the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute and others. The area abounds with turtles,
whales, dolphins and a wide range of exotic sea life.
A Very Hip Place -
The hipness of the place is phenomenal. There is actually a restaurant,
called Crawl Key Restaurant, (Or: Kraal Cay) that is 20 minutes by boat
from Bocas town, situated on the southeastern side of Bastimentos Island,
and surrounded by lush mangrove. The island is in the middle of no place,
if one ignores the fact that it is one very exciting location. You
can see for miles in every direction and there is just ocean, palm covered
islands, and the sky above. It's like having a hamburger stand on
the moon. Except the place is jumping. Fresh lobster, fish, turtle,
and conch are just a sample of what you'll find on the menu at Kraal Cay,
delicately prepared by seasoned chefs with island herbs and spices. During
peak afternoon hours it is not uncommon to find the restaurant full, with
locals and tourists alike babbling about the mornings encounters, perhaps
the dolphins at Bocatorito or the underwater caves at Zapatilla Cay.
...I like Bocas.
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| 20 Minutes after this
photo was taken these girls were shopping in downtown Bocas - They have
Direct TV, good shopping, a world of exciting islands, and yep,
...those surfer guys. |
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They loved it so much that they bought
a lot in town on their first visit. Actually, it was a lot in the water.
All of the beachfront buildings were built on stilts over the water because
of the calm seas and small, 2-foot tides. The Johnsons spent 10 days in
Bocas and made a decision. This was a place they could live. The question,
of course, was how.
Over the course of the next two years,
Johnson kept returning to Bocas and got to know the caretaker of nearby
Isla Solarte, a smaller island a few miles closer to the mainland. On one
of the trips back, they met a Florida businessman known as The Colonel,
who had bought about half of Isla Solarte years before and needed help
surveying the island. As Johnson helped map the land, snorkeled in the
pristine water and observed the indigenous peoples’ peaceful life, his
attachment to the island grew.
The Colonel offered to sell Johnson half
of Solarte, about 400 acres, in 1994. It was then that Johnson’s search
in the hilltops of Costa Rica, through the jungles of Panama and onto the
shores of Bocas crystallized into a vision of a development that captured
the spirit of Bocas del Toro.
“I didn’t want to build houses,” he said,
“I want to build a community.”
The community, as Johnson envisions it,
is an extension of the existing stilt construction of the area. Only he
is taking the building a step farther, intending to build the largest over-water,
pole construction community this side of Bora Bora. The houses, connected
by a string of walkways, will be clustered in a 500-acre planned development
and will range in size from 500 to 3,000 square feet. Prices will range
from $40,000 to $180,000. A portion of the island is planned for Sausalito-style
houseboats, while another section will be set aside for stilted land huts.
| The overall attractions that
Johnson wants to retain are the pleasant character of the community, the
interaction of the island communities – and the diverse activities.
“There is amazing diversity there; everything
is possible. There is surfing, white-sand beaches, snorkeling, fishing,
scuba diving.”
The character of the indigenous people
who live on the islands of Bocas, says Johnson emerges in small ways.
“Every day, you see Indian children, some
no more than 5 years old, paddling to school in Bocas from different islands,
dressed in freshly starched white shirts and spotless blue pants and dresses.
These kids are coming from thatched huts and their parents are struggling
to survive. But it is important to them that their children be presentable
and clean.”
The Johnsons have been back in Granite
Bay since the summer of 1995, working on permits and plans for developing
their dream on Isla Solarte. They are now selling lots for the 300-home
development, and will soon begin cutting access roads. Johnson is planning
a mostly pedestrian community with a few small hotels and grocery stores
included in the overall architectural plan. |
| The tribe from Isla Solarte
on a beer drinking mission to one of the other islands. The entire
community of Isla Solarte goes island hopping in mass, diving, beach combing
and enjoying the good life. There is internet access on the island, telephone,
electricity and frequent Isla Solarte water taxis to Bocas Town and other
nearby locations < More
On Isla Solarte > |
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The indigenous people living on the island
have their own land and thatch-roof homes on neighboring property. “We’ve
been working closely with them to maintain the character of the island,”
Johnson says. Solarte is also spitting distance from a huge national sea
park that draws snorkelers and scuba divers from both hemispheres. Recent
improvements to the small airport on Bocas has made it much easier for
visitors to get here than when Johnson first arrived.
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Life
is Good On Isla Solarte
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