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Private Fully Titled Island For Sale in Portobelo, Panama Beautiful, Fully Titled Private Island & Ecological Reserve Asking Price: $3,300,000 USD For sale or long-term lease
Name: Isla del Padre
Price: US$ 3,300,000
Size: 7.5 hectares
Location: Portobelo, Republic of Panama
AREA:
Isla del Padre has an area of 7.5 hectares (75,000 Sq. Mts. or 18.5 acres) including a beach, a small garden, a hill and a tropical forest. In addition, there is a small adjacent (approximately 1.5 hectare) mangrove island, which cannot be titled as it does not have the necessary elevation over sea level (legal prerequisite for a title). The small island is a natural preserve for the mangroves, bountiful wild orchids, otters and seafowl. The present owner of Isla del Padre exercises his “right of possession” of this smaller island in order to keep it unspoiled. The “right of possession” of this smaller island would be transferred to the purchaser along with the title to the main island.
GEOGRAPHY & LOCATION:
The island is in very close proximity to the town of Portobelo on the Atlantic side of Panama in the province of Colon. Isla del Padre is part of the peninsula in front of Portobelo, which has been described by staff of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute as a key genetic bank and the last remaining portion of the coastal forest reserve within the limits of the of the Portobelo National Park, which encompasses both land and sea.
Isla del Padre is a “geographical accident”: a piece of the mainland separated by a narrow inlet forming a cove that surrounds the island. The cove–from 25 to 80 meters wide, only five to six feet deep with a white coral sand bottom and crystal clear turquoise seawater–is a gigantic tranquil ocean pool that encircles the island on the “back” facing the mainland. The “front” of the island, facing the ocean, has a white coral sand beach some 300 meters in length.
ACCESS:
In contrast to the other islands available in Panama in places such as Bocas del Toro or the Pearl Islands Archipelago that require expensive air travel or long boat trips on the ocean, this island can be reached through a one and a half hour trip by car from Panama City to Portobelo and a 15 to 20 minute boat ride from the town to the island itself. During the boat ride from Portobelo, the boat is never more than 75 meters from the mainland.
There is currently no road access to the peninsula in front of Portobelo or the island. Because of this fact, both the peninsula and the island remain in an excellent condition as a pristine ecological sanctuary.
One entrance to the cove provides access to boats (with a draught of 5 feet during low tide) while the other side does not allow entrance or exit as it is defended by a coral reef. The part of the cove near the navigable entrance of the inlet is superb for mooring as it fully protects sailboats or yachts from the worst of storms.
WATER & ENERGY:
The island has a sweet water well used for the bathrooms, kitchen and garden. Furthermore, bountiful sweet water is available from a source on the mainland, which provides water through gravity, eliminating the need for water pumps. Currently, drinking water is brought to the island but the quality of the local water available can easily be improved by an appropriate filtering system to have drinking water available. The current caretaker frequently drinks the water available on the island without boiling or filtering it.
At present the island is a few kilometers from the mainland electricity grid but according to the information available, the region is perfect to set up a wind turbine as a green and renewable power source.
LANDSCAPE & ECOLOGY:
Only slightly less than one hectare has been cleared to make room for the garden (no imported flora, all native to the island, except for a few golden shower cassia and lemon trees), the current owner’s small, rustic cottage and the gardener/caretaker’s cottage.
The remaining 6.5 hectares including the hill are primary and secondary tropical coastal rain forest populated by the native flora including many types of native trees and vines, bromeliads, wild orchids and many species of fauna (including howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, anteaters, armadillos, iguanas, otters, several species of crabs and a large selection of sea and land birds). On one part of the major beach (that faces north to the Atlantic) several species of sea turtles lay eggs during the seasons corresponding to the species as can be seen from the photograph of some baby turtles crawling towards the water (see images). On lucky days, one can see dolphins swimming and jumping in front of the island at the entrance of the large crystal clear water bay that is formed by the beach and rest of the island on the left and the mainland on the right.
The island is surrounded by a region on the mainland (owned by another person) that is covered with primary and secondary forest, which acts as a natural ecological buffer zone. As the island’s title has been grandfathered into the Park area (it had been titled before the Park existed) and the neighboring mainland area is also within an ecologically protected area (i.e the National Park), there are some development / zoning regulations that inhibit extremely high-density human infrastructures on both properties. These conditions contribute to the capacity for conservation of the ecology of the island and surrounding areas.
INFRASTRUCTURE:
The island has two cottages mentioned above. The present owner’s cottage has, on the bottom floor, the living and dinning areas and a deposit for household goods and on the upper floor two bedrooms and a very large bathroom.
Both cottages have septic tanks and ample sweet water (brought by gravity through a PVC tube from a creek on the mainland behind the island) for the baths, kitchen and garden.
There is a small stone pier covered by grass on the “back” of the island facing the cove and the mainland.
There is also a new 22 ft. fiberglass boat with a new 25-hp. Yamaha two-stroke engine.
There is a staff of two (husband & wife) who live on the island. The husband is the gardener / handyman and is also the boatman who picks up and drops off visitors in Portobelo is a master fisherman. His wife helps or does the cooking when the island is inhabited.
SPORTS & ACTIVITIES:
The island is ideal for a small, luxury, up-market ecological and marine resort. The island and its environs are also an ideal location for water sports and recreation. As can be seen from the map, the areas of the mainland leading up to the island and beyond it have significant coral barrier reefs. There are various rock formations in the ocean in front of the island as well as three islands about 2 km. out to sea making it an excellent environment for snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, sailing, fishing and deep sea fishing in the surrounding areas of the ocean. A half hour away by boat is Isla Grande one of Panama’s best-known places for surfing.
CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT:
The towns and villages along this part of the Panamanian coast are populated by the descendants of the “Cimarrones” or escaped slaves who have kept up many of their African cultural heritage, including the traditions of “The Congo” – a dance native to Africa in which the whole village participates. In Portobello, there is a Congo Festival every two years. It has become such an important event that competitors and participants come from all parts of Panama and many visitors come to the event from abroad.
There is also an internationally known “Festival of the Black Christ” every 31st of October in Portobello, on which date the townspeople have a candlelit procession in the evening during which time the Black Christ tours the town. Over 100,000 visitors go to Portobelo for each of these two events. The Bay of Portobelo is also frequently visited by cruise ships and hundreds of sailboats and yachts every year.
Some of this part of the Panamanian coast was colonized in the 1980’s by the descendants of the Spaniards who live in the town of Tonosí on the Pacific coast. These “New Tonosieños” who like their ancestors, are cattle farmers, frequently have rodeos along with the music and dances of their special cultural heritage that is also very much alive today.
The famous San Blas Archipelago, with over 400 coral atolls, inhabited by the Kuna Indians is just a three-hour boat trip from the island.
The village of Portobelo used to be one of the “crossroads of the world” as it was there that the Spanish Armada would arrive to leave its goods brought from Europe and the Orient and pick up the silver and gold coming from Peru and Bolivia during the Colonial Period. The Customs House of that period was recently restored and one can still see the three major Spanish Colonial fortifications and the four minor ones, all designed in Spain to defend the port from repeated attacks by pirates such as Henry Morgan and Francis Drake, whose remains were buried at sea at the entrance to the Bay of Portobelo.
On the island itself, there are two places where there are remains of colonial period buildings and, according to one Panamanian archeologist, on the hillside there are the remains of an “aljibe” or Spanish colonial sweet water gathering system used during that period.
The island is located in a region of Panama that has tremendous cultural, historical and ecological diversity yet the island remains an unspoiled, completely private tropical land and marine paradise where the nearest neighbor is 3 km. away.
 | | About This Property | |
| Category: | | Islands | | Address: | | Portobelo
Panama | | For Sale By: | | Owner | | Construction Year: | | 1992 | | Area: | | 8 Hectares | | | Bedrooms: | | 2 | | Bathrooms: | | 1 | | Sleeps: | | 5 | | Stories: | | 2 | | Parking Spaces: | | n/a | |
| | Features - Amenities | |
| - Ocean View
- Ocean Waterfront
| | - Total Privacy
- Caretaker's Cottage
| | - Staff Of Two (2), Gardner/caretaker And Maid/cook
- New Boat (22 FT., New Yamaha 25 HP.)
| | | Pictures (click to view a larger image) | |
| | Contact - More Information | |
| | Phones: | | 507.226.0164 (Please leave message.)
507.6615.4122
| | Fax: | | 507.226.0165
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