Panama Canal Review: Special edition Panama

Item Type monograph

Publisher Panama Canal Press

Download date 26/09/2021 08:12:53

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/19167 42 SPECIAL EDITION By Louis R. Granger LUSTERED OFF the south coast of Panama lie a group of more than 100 islands that during the next decade are ex­ With many tropical beaches . pected to give a bit of com­ and jungle trails, Contadora petition to the sun and fun I. Island officially opens for Iislands qf the Caribbean. Well-known to the boating and fish­ tourism this month. On ing crowd of Panama and the Canal opposite page pretty Karen Zone, the Pearl Island Archipelago in Hughes, a visitor from the Gulf of Panama is stepping into the Iowa, writes her favorite limelight thanks to a group of Panama island's name in the sand, businessmen and the Panama Govern­ ment, all bent on putting the island and strolls along the beach jewels on every island hopping tourist's in the photo below. itinerary. In left photo, Gabriel Lewis, Gabriel Lewis, president of the Pearl right, developer, chats Island Development Corp., is the lead­ with Frank Morrice whose ing force behind the project and this month will officially open Contadora company holds the Island to tourism. exclusive sales rights Already more than $1 million has been to island property. spent to develop the island into a luxury Below is a trail leading resort, and approximately $800,000 through untouched jungle. more will go into the construction of a 50-room modern hotel and 16 two-bed­ room cottages to be ready in January 1972. Now available are 10, two-bed­ room, centrally air-conditioned trailers; a restaurant and cocktail lounge; and a small rental store for sporting goods and the usual beach and water necessities. 13 Beaches Although the island is only 2 miles long and % of a mile wide, it has 13 beaches and plenty of room for privacy. An airfield nearly 3,000 feet long serves the island, and the corporation owns three twin-engine planes for shuttle service from Paitilla Airport. The fee is $10 per person round trip, but property owners are given a discount. It's a IS-minute h'ip by air and approximately 1 to 2 hours by power­ boat. The island lies at the northern end of the archipelago approximately 35 miles from Panama City. There are nu­ merous anchorages for deep-draft vessels and the island has a gas/diesel fueling pier. Once the island gets into full swing, Contadora will be a paradise for the out­ door types, as well as for the naturalist. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Peterson who operated a sailing school at Fort Lauder­ dale, Fla., are resident managers of the operation and offer skindiving and sail­ ing classes. Natives from the surround­ ing islands will conduct pearl diving expeditions for the more adventuresome visitors. Pearling was a lucrative busi­ ness around the Pearl Islands until the

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 43 and all the roads including one that ciTcles the island will be blacktopped. That project is expected to be finished in February 1971 along with a water system supplied by three artesian wells, and an electrical plant with three gen­ erators supplying 1,000 kw. Comunica­ ciones, S.A., will install 80 telephone lines for island communications and 6 lines to Panama City by March 1971, Lewis said; No Crazy Ideas Original building sites sold for $6 a square meter for waterfront lots a~d. $4 for inland property. The only bmldmg restriction is that plans be approved by the management and that the houses "fit in" with the community. "No crazy A paradise for beachcombers and skindivers, the Pearl Island Arc~ipe~ago gives up ideas" Lewis said. Lot owners, he ex­ treasures from its past to sharp-eyed visitors. Here Mr. and Mrs. Le~ls dIsplay some of plain~d, can purchase two-bedroom, air­ the items found among the islands. Clustered in the foreground and III photo below are conditioned mobile homes from the Pan­ pearls found just off Contadora this year. ama Tourist Bureau for nothing down and $128 a month for 8 years. Trailer tualIy to develop. "It all depends on how 1930's when apparently a combination lots, however, must be landscaped. well the public accepts Contadora," of over-fishing and disease decimated To Lewis, the. archipelago will be­ the beds. he said. come the next major tourist area. "These But pearl oysters may be making a Part of the island has been subdivided islands will be booming soon. The Gov­ comeback. Lewis has collected nearly for homesites and additional building ernment is backing their development 100 pearls of various sizes off Contadora sites wilI be set aside after the hotel is and is giving a lot of cooperation. in 10 feet of water at low tide. (Pacific completed. "The reaction has been fan­ There's a great potential here. tides average approximately 14 feet.) tastic," said Lewis. "Already the entire "Panama has an excellent opportunity subdivided section has been sold." to develop a strong tourist industry. We Golf Course Contador~. If Lewis' own reaction to have what everybody wants-sun, good Tennis courts, a 9-hole golf course, when he fil'st saw it is any indication of beaches some of the best fishing in the and volleyball courts will be added to how others will feel, then the island is world, ~nd clean, clear water," he said. round out the sporting activities. . bound to be a favorite. . Lewis has preserved much of the Sales Rights island forest of guayacan trees, thorny Like a Dream Lewis is not alone in this venture. cedars, oaks, and typical island growth, Just 2 years ago in November Lewis Frank Morrice III, a partner of Ford, and has let it be known that a good way was fishing alone in a small boat when Sosa, Morrice, S.A., insurance and real not to be invited back to the island is to he had engine trouble. He put into Con­ estate, has the exclusive sales rights to kill one of the black iguanas that inhabit tadora for help. "I found the island to island property. And like Lewis, Mor­ the island. This species grows to about be like a dream," he said. Mter repairing rice first went to Contadora for a reason 5 feet and like the rest of the family are the engine, Lewis retumed to Panama other than business. harmless to humans. . , City. "Immediately I started asking "I heard about the island and went Indian pottery arid ll:}th Century questions and found that it was owned there to see about buying a lot. I fell in bottles have been fo1;"ihd on Contadora by the Pinel family who had been in love with it right away," he said. Lewis during the construeti~n and clearing. the pearl business years before." For­ and Morrice became good friends and And on a nearby island Lewis found two tunately, the owners were willing to sell. Lewis offered him the sales part of the large diving helmets abandoned or lost Lewis set-up a 5-year program and in business. by pearl divers. February 1969 the first bulldozer started Lewis is a family man, the father of Lewis plans to retain the natural to clear an area for the airstrip. Since five boys and one daughter, and has a beauty of the island and not crowd any then a work force of about 70 men has close relationship with his business of the residents or visitors. Actually been kept busy. The Panama National associates. He is general manager of the there is no need to pack Contadora with Guard provided some heavy equipment successful family-owned enterprise of people. He owns seven other islands in to widen the runway. Corrugado Panama, S.A., which manu­ the archipelago which he plans even- Duringthe next dry season the airfield factures banana packing boxes. He has the easygoing manner of a man who is sure of himself and knows exactly where he is going. Morrice feels much the same way about the future of the Pearl Islands as Lewis, but. admits that it takes someone like Lewis to make it work. "Gabriel is the pioneer; he's the Robinson Crusoe of the Pearl Islands,"

44 SPECIAL EDITION LITTLE IS KNOWN and less is re­ corded of the Pearl Islands except that they were once the center of important and lucrative pearl fishing, an industry . which to various degrees continued for more than 400 years. The first known written reference to the islands occurs in a letter to the King of Spain from Vasco Nunez de Balboa, dated January 20, 1513. Balboa had not discovered the Pacific Ocean-that was to be in September-but had heard many stories from the Indians about the great "South Sea" that sh'etched to the horizon from across the Isthmus of Panama. He told the ~ing: "Tfe Indians state there is another ocean 3 days journey from here ... they say the other ocean is very suitable for canoe traveling as it is always calm ... I believe there are many islands in that sea ... they tell me pearl and pearls-until 1931 when the that there are pearls in abundance of demand for mother-of-pearl diminished. great size, and that the native chiefs Most of it was sent to Germany while the possess baskets filled with them, as do pearls were sold mainly in Paris, Lon­ even common Indian men and women." don, and a few other European capitals. Since then these islands with their Only a few pearls were ever sold in the graceful white sand beaches, craggy United States, Pinel said. cliffs, good natur.al harbors, and a wide and abundant variety of wildlife have Pearl Fishing led unruIDed lives while their tropical Although the Colombian Government cousins in the Caribbean were groomed had established conservation practices for the tourist trade. on pearl fishing prior to the turn of the Sun and Rum century (Panama became independent from Colombia in 190.3), the production As the Caribbean islands boomed with of pearl oysters diminished markedly in pleasure seekers by the hundreds of. the 1!}30's, thousands soaking up the sun and rum, According .to Dr. Paul S. Galtsoff of the "Islands of Pearls," as Balboa called the U.S. Department of the Interior, them, patiently waited for the limelight. Fish and Wildlife Service, who con­ From 1901 until 1968, when Gabriel ducted a survey of the pearl oyster Lewis, president of the Pearl Island resources of Panama in 1950, the years Development Corp., bought Contadora of forced inactivity from 1939 through Island, it was owned by the Pinel family 1943 had no beneficial 'effect on the who used the island for its pearl fishing oyster population. fleet. The Pinel's bought it from great­ "In 1944-45, when the fishery was grandchildren of Felix Moreno who took officiallv resumed, the divers found the title to the island and several others in pearl oysters extremely scarce. They also the late 18th Century. Moreno's daugh­ reported seeing, on several formerly ter inherited it on his death in 1836 productive grounds, many dead or dying when the island was called San Fran­ ovsters," said Dr. Galtsoff. cisco de Asis de Contadora. . There are no records available of the jose Pinel of Panama City, who is en­ number of pearls and their value taken gaged in the real estate business, was from Panama Bay during the Spanish a child during the pearl fishing days of occupation, but it probably was con­ his family. He said Contadora and siderable. Modern-day records on pearls several other islands had fresh water and mother-of-pearl shells were not necessarv for the fleet. Pinel' believes maintained until 1908, and even then At top of page is an aerial photograph of that Ca'ntadora may have been the the records were only sketchy. Contadora Island taken earlier this year. isiand that was used as' the counting­ According to the Panama Bureau of It shows the runway, half a dozen beaches house for pearls and mother-of-pearl Statistics and Census, the best year was and some of the roads. A 50-room hotel shell during the Spanish occupation. The 1924 when pearls and shell valued at and 16 modem cottages will be con­ Spanish word contador means counter; $57,524 were taken from the bay. The structed near the beach at right center. The accountant; or auditor, and contadu­ last year of record keeping was 1938 U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office chart shows some of the northern islands in the archi­ ria is translated as accountant's office, when it was reported that only 3 carats pelago including Isla Contadora, below accountancy; and auditorship. of pearls valued at $275 were collected. Isla Pacheca and to the right of Isla Sabo­ The Pinel family remained in the But the year before, 339 carats with a gao The islands are approximately 35 miles pearling business-both for mother-of- value of $10,818 were taken. from Panama City.

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 45