BlackBook A GLOBAL GUIDE FOR THE DISCERNING TRAVELLER ISLAND IDYLL Dream with the Fishes At Islas Secas, a pristine, private archipelago in Panama, a new luxury lodge combines sustainability with total seclusion as KEVIN WEST discovered PHOTO IAN ALLEN Isla Pargo, one of 13 uninhabited islands that visitors can explore at Islas Secas As the Chorcha River descends from volcanic highlands in the Chiriquí province of western Panama, it curls around the hamlet of Chorcha not far from the provincial capital, David, and meets a gravel beach at the end of a narrow road. One morning earlier this year, a military-style landing craft basked there with its square-lipped bow lowered onto the bank, like an amphibious whale with mouth agape. Two men stepped ashore. One was Rob Jameson, a near two-metre-tall blond Liverpudlian and talkative naturalist. The other – quieter and considerably shorter – was captain Jairo Pimentel, who grew up along this coast. Both men wore pale azure shirts and khaki shorts, the livery of Islas Secas, a luxury lodge on a private archipelago set like a brooch upon 420 hectares of dark ocean in the Gulf of Chiriquí. Luggage stowed, Jairo pointed the boat downstream between mangrove-lined banks. Barrier CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 25
