Well, after an extended period of time it appears that by the end of the day today, the Kimball family will be permanent residents of Panama (Boty of course doesn't need any papers - she is Panamanian by birth). This has been a long and drawn out process. We have crossed two different administrations during this process. We started with one firm on one type of visa only to start over several years later with our current counsel with our original plan. The laws have changed many times over. Each time the law changed it required us to provide incremental information. However, now we are at the precipice. We have been told that our application has been approved so we are on our way to the Immigration offices in Panama to get our permanent cards. It is a great day! Now we wait for the Viola's turn.

Well, we are working on returning to normal around here. We had a really great large group with us here for almost two weeks. They were early risers. Wanting to get away from here at 6:00 am most mornings. They were offsite all day long. This meant that breakfast and lunch were sent on the road. They maximized every hour of sunlight available to them. This meant that they returned here to Tranquilo Bay at dark most days. We are especially grateful to our community here in Bocas. So many people pitched in to make it happen. Was it a lot of work? Yes. Was it a lot of fun? Yes. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat.

No photos to share at this point. We will do a whole series about the experience at a later date. It was wonderful for all of us – we melded together as a team. And this team worked really well together.

The past two weeks taught me that we are up for just about any challenge. Ask us if we can do it. If we can, we will let you know.

Here are a couple of posters that I made for Jim to take to a trade show a year or so ago. I realized that I never posted them here as I was working on the blog recently. Email me if you want a copy of them to print out. Have a great weekend!

Do you know anyone in this photo? There are of course the usual suspects: those of us who live and work here at Tranquilo Bay. Then there are four guests. These four guests came down to go fishing and had a wonderful time. Each one of them caught a Tarpon. They also caught several other species of fish. Do you recognize the gentleman in the center? The one with the kids? What about his lovely partner next to the kids? For those of you who are NFL fans - you should remember this former Miami Dolphin. For those of you who are fishermen, you might recognize him from his television show called NAPA's North to Alaska. What I can tell you is this - this gentleman, his partner and their friends from Alaska were great fun and super people. I am glad the suggested we get a group photo. We do not do this often enough.

Nuri is our wonderful cook. She and her younger brother work together to make all the delicious food we have here at Tranquilo Bay. She is a remarkable person. We are so fortunate to have her here.

We were fortunate enough to have a neat family from California visit us two years ago for about a week right at the new year. The whole family was a joy to be around. They are super laid back, but not. The father is a professor at Stanford and an accomplished business writer. The mother is former managing partner from a large firm who now heads up a large Girl Scouts organization in California. Their teenage children are all accomplished in a variety of ways. Suffice it to say we had fun.

There were a number of things that fell into place in getting them to Tranquilo Bay. The mom originally found us on the internet. She decided they should try to come see us. The dad travels a lot for his book promotions and has used one travel agent to help him with all of his plans. So, dad told his travel agent about us. The travel agent then went through another company we work with to put the trip together. Prior to arriving at Tranquilo Bay, the dad, a blogger, began reading our blog to get an idea of what he might be in for down here in Panama.

After visiting us, the blogger, decided that our story was one that needed a wider audience than it had received thus far. He sent out a few emails to some folks he knew either personally or through his work in promoting his book. One of those people, Leigh Buchanan bit. She called and asked us more about our story. This ultimately led to the article about Tranquilo Bay that ran in INC. Magazine in May 2008. (See this post.) That article has introduced us and our story to a variety of other people over the past year or so. There is a television show airing on The Outdoor Channel - Randy Jones Strike Zone - in early May 2009 that is directly a result of the article.

The same family came down to Panama again last year for the New Year's holiday. It was great to see them again and catch up on all the things that have happened over the past year. I do stay in touch with them via email on occasion, and I read Bob's blog on a regular basis. There are two posts this week that jumped out at me.

Diego Rocks - this is a post about a post that a friend of Bob's wrote on his own blog and then ended up on Harvard Online. I like the post for two reasons, it is a sound argument and because it includes Travis Pastrana. Travis is a hero in our house. He is capable of all kinds of things according to my children. He is almost as cool as Superman. He and Ricky Carmichael are the bomb.

The Helicopter and Lemonade Story: A Favorite from "What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20" - Bob posted a few days prior to this post about a new book by Tina Seelig who is a good friend of his. He puts an example of a story in her book in this specific post. What I took away from it is that although Bob thinks he needs to be reminded of the things in Tina's book, he lives it more than he knows. His small acts of kindness that he has shown us have made a big deal in our lives.

Thanks to you Bob, Marina and the rest of the family for showing us the kindness that you have over the past few years. We really appreciate it.

The Knot Magazine has its annual 50 best honeymoon spots included in its national Spring Summer 2009 issue. Tranquilo Bay was featured in the section of 10 Best Bargains.

Bocas del Toro: Why? The archipelago is more quiet than Panama City and makes a great outpost for exploring nearby islands. Where to stay? Tranquilo Bay is a chic eco-lodge in the middle of a rainforest.

Check it out on news stands now!

Ramon caught this photo of several of our guests leaving the Zapatilla Cayes a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful day. Everyone had a lovely time.

My brother emailed me last week to let me know that we had been included in an article in Continental’s in flight magazine. I went online to look it up today. I must say that it is truly a compliment to be included in with such a great group of hotels. Take a look at the article. We are the last hotel listed for Panama and the only one of our size!

Sitting Pretty in Central America

I just wanted to point out that we have updated several of the pages on the website to include videos where appropriate. The pages with videos currently include:

Accommodations

Beach Excursions

Beach Hiking

Diving & Snorkeling

Fishing

Kayaking

We are continuing to take video footage and will add more video to the site as we develop it. Have a great week!

Here is another one of the vidoes I put together which gives you an idea of what the boat ride out to Tranquilo Bay is like as well as giving you a feel for walking around our grounds and into one of our cabanas. It is so difficult to give you an accurate feel of the enormity of the jungle and what it is like to be inside it. It is an amazing experience. I will attempt to put it into words for you.

When you step into under the canopy of the jungle, the temperature immediately and noticeably drops. You feel a calm pass over you as if you took a deep breath and shook out your shoulders and there was no need to do either one. The green you see all around you - above, in front of, behind and below you. There is life all around you. Plants, animals, insects and bugs all coexist in this environment. We are all familiar with how difficult it is to calm a crying newborn baby - sometimes no matter what you do, you just cannot calm them down. The jungle does not fail. It can calm even the most disturbed baby just by welcoming the baby into its arms.

We live in the jungle. Some of our facility has been carved out of it, but the jungle is never far away. You can walk on one the pathways to get to the cabanas and you are in the middle of the jungle. You can go on one of our trails and you are in the jungle. However, one of the wonderful things about being here in Bocas del Toro, Panama is that we are also on an island in the middle of the Caribbean. So we have the crystal clear waters and beautiful beaches. Since we are in an archipelago we also face the mountains which house the volcano that made this amazing archipelago so many years ago. All of these things come together here at Tranquilo Bay. How very fortunate we are.

So, I am on a bit of a video kick these days. I have been working on getting some of our photos and video footage into short clips for people to get a feel for what it is like to spend some time with us here at Tranquilo Bay. We are also preparing for a once a year trade show for Latin American businesses so I also have a bit of a deadline to meet.

This video shows some of the aerial views of the places where we go snorkeling, the beaches nearby where we snorkel, and the sights underwater while you are snorkeling as well as a few folks actually snorkeling - imagine that! Take a look.

Here is a short video I just finished on our excursion to Punta Valiente. For those of you who haven’t been here yet - this is one of our don’t miss excursions. For those of you who have visited us maybe it will bring a smile to your face to remember your trip to Punta Valiente. Have a great Friday!

We have updated all of the photo galleries with photos from the past year. Here are a few of my favorite new ones:






We are unable to include all of the photos we have taken or that our guests have provided to us. Each one of these has a story - they all bring a smile to our faces when we see them. We hope that they do the same for you. We also hope that they help you get a feel for what it is like to spend some time with us here in paradies.

We have broken down some of the larger categories into sub categories so that you can see an example of the diversity that we have down here in plant and animal life. This link takes you to all of the plants which you can use as a jumping ground to get to different plant types. This link takes you to the animals for all of the different types of animals we encounter on our excursions. This link takes you the entire group of photo galleries. Spend some time checking them all out.

I was reading one of the blogs I check out on a regular basis and she had a link to a website called Wordle www.wordle.net. It makes really cool word clouds. I took the text off of our home page to see how it might end up represented in a word cloud. Here are a few of my favorites that it came up with...

In the June issue of Sport Diver there are a variety of articles on where to go expat.



Panama and specifically, Bocas del Toro, made it as one of the destinations - the Wild West. Check out the article here - http://www.sportdiver.com/article.jsp?ID=21392105. The reference to Panama is toward the end of the online article.

I can't begin to describe how cool it is to read someone else's account of what we have been up to down here for the past few years. I just read the article Paradise the Hard Way in Inc.'s May 2008 issue about how Tranquilo Bay came to be what it is today. Obviously you can't capture all of it in 5000 words or less, but the folks at Inc. did a pretty good job. We came down here and built Tranquilo Bay for a change in lifestyle. We got what we bargained for and then some. All of us share ups and downs on the island. Fortunately there have been more ups than downs. We are celebrating this article as a definite up!

We have been pretty busy over the last few months as my lack of posts indicates. I am going to try and post some of the photos from the past few months over time in order to give you a feel of what it is like to be here. We have done all the hard work for you. You just have to come down and enjoy. Give us a call - we will find the right time for you and your group to visit.

I can't believe that it has been over a month since my last post, but alas it has. We have been busy - which is such a good thing.

We were very fortunate to really catch the attention of one of our guests during the holiday season. Bob Sutton is a professor and an author. He teaches at the d.school at Stanford and has heard a variety of stories about start up companies. He thought ours was an interesting one and he decided to tell a few people about us. He wrote to Leigh Buchanan at INC magazine. She found the story also to be intriguing and in less than one month she was here interviewing us and learning all about what it took to build Tranquilo Bay. The photographers, Rob and Brandon, followed shortly thereafter. We worked with Leigh and Ryan at INC to verify the facts in the story as it was being edited. Then we waited. Yesterday, Jay, Stefanie and Scott went to the USA to visit family and they found the May issue of INC on the newsstand. Jay tells me that he and Stefanie are pleased with the article. Jim and I are waiting for someone to fax a copy of it to us as it is not posted on INC's website just yet.

We are very appreciative of all the attention granted us from Bob, Leigh, Ryan and all the other people involved in making this article a reality. I thought that some people might be interested in getting a better grasp on what it took to build this place so we put together a new section of the website that goes through the story year by year. Each of the photos on the pages and the text blows up so that you can see them clearly and the gallery on each page takes you through the photos for that year.

Thanks to you all for making Tranquilo Bay a reality ;-)

What happens when you take one very funny retired high school government teacher, one of his fraternity brothers, one of his former students, all of their spouses and a few of the kids and toss them into the Panamanian jungle on an island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea?  Oh yea - they are all Texans tambien. A rocking good time :-) 

We ended up with a group of friends (who have come together over time) vacationing here at Tranquilo Bay last week.  It was great fun.  I had an idea of what we might be in for as I communicated with them via email, but my expectations were exceeded.  We have fun with all of our guests, but this group seriously tickled our funny bones.  They began by playing jokes on us the first night they arrived and ended the week with us being in on the jokes as other guests arrived.  

One of the things I am truly appreciate about our clientele is that they REALLY are on vacation.  They kick back, have fun and forget about the every day.  Our location definitely helps people to enter this zone, if you will, but I continue to be impressed by people who can turn off and tune in to nature so that they re-enter their day to day lived recharged.

Here are some photos of one of our porch sessions.  


Singing and joking


Hook Em Horns


Chicken foot dominoes


And look at what they did to Bimini!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

We had a couple of photographers come out to take photos this week. It was interesting to watch the process and watch how our employees took part in the photo shoot. They really enjoyed it. Here are a few photos Jim took of our crew having portraits taken by the photographers.





I have added a new page to the main website on our employees. It currently includes only their photos, but we will add some information on them in the near future. Here is the page: www.tranquilobay.com/employees.htm

Our little business is growing tremendously this first quarter of 2008. Our occupancy rate for the first quarter is up over 100% over last year. This is exciting, exhilarating, and a little exhausting.

Exciting because this is the business we came down to Panama to have. Watching our business grow and keeping it running smoothly gives us all a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

Exhilarating because we are participating in a group of special memories for our clients. While our clients all share a love for adventure and nature - each one experiences it differently and comes here from a different place. We are fortunate to be exposed to all of these wonderful people. It is really cool to have the opportunity to enrich their experiences while at the same time we gain insight and perspective from the encounter. We experience our place with a fresh set of senses each time a new guest arrives. To hear the way they describe things and see the delight in their faces is truly rewarding experience.

Exhausting, yes, but in a good way. We work seven days a week for many hours out of each day. As with any business as you continue to learn what it takes to make it great it takes a bit out of you. However, the upside of what we are learning and how it is getting easier each day for us and for our employees is that we are building a business that we believe will stand for a long time.

I am into quotes right now. They seem to help one get the point across far better than one's own words at times. This one caught my eye the other day:



It is a variation on the common theme of behind every good man is a good woman. It is fitting for our situation as we were separated by 1800 miles as we built Tranquilo Bay. I would not have wanted nor could I have completed what Jay and Jim did to build Tranquilo Bay. However, they could not have done it if they didn't have a regular influx of cash coming their way from the girls they left in Houston.

We have been reviewing our quest to build and create Tranquilo Bay recently. It is quite a gift to be able to look upon what it has become and is continuing to develop into - almost as one watches a child grow. It is a labor of love. One that has its ups and downs of course, but oh what a ride it is.

The thing that we do is hope for the best and plan for the worst. We always hope for the best weather and conditions for our guests' experiences, but sometimes it rains. So we always have a plan for how to deal with the rain. It may be as simple as wait 30 minutes and the skies will clear or a bit more complicated where we have an excursion where everyone will have a good time rain or shine.

Each day I wake up here I count my blessings. There are so many things and people who helped me reach this point in my life and for that I am grateful. This evening I have been reviewing in my head the multitude of people I have met in the last few weeks and how spending time with each and every one of them has been rewarding. One of the things that is so great about being here in Panama and running a small lodge is that we get to meet people from all walks of life with a variety of interests and experiences. It is so cool when these people come here and have an adventure together.

I try to make it a point not to ask people what they do for a living as that conversation is one they have regularly at home. On vacation in the middle of the Caribbean ocean one should talk about different things. So I thought it would be interesting to give a brief list of ONE thing that I took away from each group of our guests over the last few weeks (I obviously took away much more than one thing from each family and each person for that matter but to list all of them might become tedious for those of you reading this)

S – teenage boys are very good at entertaining 4 year old boys – thanks guys!
H – chai tea helps to make friends
M – there are good white wines
K – family trips are one of the best gifts to give and to receive
E – there are other people who like bugs and snakes as much as Jim and Jay
N – teenage girls are up for all kinds of adventure – even bat caves
S – it is possible to truly unplug and just “be” on vacation with your family
Z/C – let me sleep late and then keep me going all day and into the night
C – game for anything especially if it includes bacon, chocolate or beer!
R – children can’t learn to speak properly if they don’t actually chew their food
R – cousin in a very distant way – that whole 7 degrees of separation thing rings true
B/H – when it seems like there is more to the story there usually is

There are so many things that I learned from these recent guests. If I did list what each of these people did for a living and the accomplishments among them I would go on for days. Suffice it to say that our guests accomplishments far outshine ours yet we can all spend a bit of time here together and have a great time doing so. Thanks to all of you for spending some of your precious vacation time here with us!

So the cook is on vacation. I originally thought this was going to be a bad thing. However, I am having a good time on my mini vacation back in the kitchen. We are eating a different menu to some extent due to the cook’s absence as I cannot cook some things the same way she can. There is no reason to subject our guests to my version of something if it is not going to compare to what the cook makes on a regular basis.

So instead I am making things that I do well. The menu is much more like going to a friend’s home for dinner than it is like going to a restaurant. Under normal circumstances our dinners resemble a dinner party that has been catered by a good catering company. We have a set menu that we post each morning (we do all of our menu planning in advance based upon guest input regarding food preferences and allergies prior to arrival) so that we have the day to make changes if necessary. Everything is cooked and served fresh each evening. We enjoy a variety of conversations as we generally sit at a community table or tables depending upon the number of guests on site.

This week we have a few things which are cooked in the oven instead of a la minute. I am not as good a protein cook as is our cook. However, we are a Bocas del Toro hotel and our guests do deserve tasty and nutritious food so we are doing the best that we can. So far I don’t think anyone is disappointed. And I get to have a little bit of fun.

My son has a book by Jaime Lee Curtis called “Today I Feel Silly.” The book is all about moods and it is intended to teach children about moods and how they come and go. My son has another book that is entitled “When I Miss You.” That book is of course about learning how to deal with people leaving and being alone and what you can do to manage the time until they come back.

This morning one of our long time employees left to pursue another opportunity. We will all miss her. She was a sweet girl who took very good care of all of us and of our guests. She will be an asset to her new employer.

My son is a bit sad as he is rather attached to this employee. She has been with my son for almost two years of his three and a half years. She helped him to learn Spanish at a very early age because my son wanted to be able to speak with her.

One of the things we learned early on as a Bocas del Toro hotel is that we will have many employees over the years. However, one thing is for certain, some are more special than others and today one of our favorites has graduated. We are all a little bit sad, but we know what we can do until the next time we see her.

Wow – so much time has passed since my last post. We decided that we needed a new look and feel for our website so we spent several months working on the whole redo. What has resulted seems to be much easier to navigate and includes many new photos. We have been blessed with a great number of clients who give us copies of all of their amazing photos and then Jim has taken thousands of photos as well. This enabled us to add almost 20 galleries. We have plans for quite a few more which will help us to display the beauty of Bocas del Toro Panama.

We have been working heavily with several government agencies doing what we can to help preserve the natural beauty of Isla Bastimentos. The government is looking at enlarging Bastimentos National Marine Park which we think would be great. It guarantees that Isla Bastimentos will have the resources and the regulations which help protect it from further development.

Recently we hosted a couple of research scientists from the Smithsonian Institue who were study the red frog population across all of Isla Bastimentos. These two women reviewed some of our photos while they were here and found one particular vividly colored katydid interesting. Jim emailed a photo of it to them and they sent it on to their expert. This expert is fascinated by the katydid and believes it to be a new species. Jim is working with this expert on a regular basis now to help him acquire whatever information he needs to further study this katydid.

We all want to wish you and yours a happy, healthy and safe holiday season. December is a time for all of us to celebrate our families, friends and opportunities. There are the different religious holidays, the cultural holidays and the new beginnings to prepare for and contemplate. Then there is the time to just ENJOY. We all wake up each day thankful for the opportunity we have here to live, run a business, raise our families and spend time with each of our guests = and we get to do all of this in paradise. Take care until we see you next. :)

I think everyone can benefit from adequate personal space. But what is adequate? When you are on vacation, you may require more personal space than normal because you are attempting to relax and enjoy yourself. You may choose to sit and observe what is going on in your immediate surroundings more than you do at home and thus you want and require more space than usual.

On the other hand, so many people have so much space these days that they may decide that what they want is personal service and privacy but that they do not need large amounts of space to fill such requirements.

Our cabanas are about 425 square feet. They are a good size to ensure that you have plenty of space for your needs but they are not so large that they infringe upon the beautiful natural surroundings. We have built them so that each one is private and allows you to return to your senses. Here in Bocas del Toro Panama, we have an arranged marriage of sorts for you – you have your own sanctuary with its creature comforts in the rain forest on an island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Your cabana and the entire eco adventure lodge combine together to give you all you need to walk away with a fresh take on the good life.

How far in advance do you prepare for a vacation? We have some guests who reserve their vacation and begin planning the specifics a year in advance of their trip. We have others who want to schedule a trip about two weeks to a month out. However, most of our guests fall somewhere in the middle.

We recently had a family of four here for ten days. All vacation planning was left up to Dad. Dad is a successful, type A personality kind of guy. He begins planning his vacation for the upcoming year shortly after returning home from the current year’s vacation. So for Spring Break, he catches up at the office and then begins the quest to find the next spot he deems perfect for his family. He does a lot of research about that spot and then he lets the information simmer for a while. After it simmers for about a month or so, he fills in any missing information and goes over all of the information, at a summary level, with his wife. If she buys into the plan then he makes his reservation for the following year.

So needless to say, when I got the following email in my in box earlier this week, I was delighted as I know we had some big shoes to fill.

We had a wonderful time at Tranquilo Bay. Our stay exceeded expectations… and you know, they were pretty high. Most importantly, I want to thank Jim, Jay, Stephanie, Sabrina, Enrique, Mario, Leo, Yohani, the Hidden Chef and all the other staff for being such great hosts.

Renee, you, especially, are a saint for putting up with all my questions and quirky desires.

I am still digesting the entire trip and will be sending out a package this week. Hopefully, it will be in Texas for Jay's visit.

There are so many great memories/experiences, lobster, Zapo Beach, the dock, dolphins, tarpon, bonefish, views, water, indians, etc.... Of course my biggest disappointment was the food. Too good, too much - I am huge and almost was charged 70 cents a pound for my return weight.

Collecting my thoughts, I am, believe it or not, at a loss for words - but the main point is we had a great time, there are a lot of great places - the trick is to find both great places with great people - we found that at Tranquilo Bay....and that will be a very hard combo to replicate - and I may just want to stay with a good thing.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. I remember when I was working in Houston that I made so many different decisions each day that I wanted a vacation from decisions. We have tried to create such a place here where you can make as many or as few decisions as you like.

We ask you in advance what you are interested in experiencing once you arrive. We spend some time getting to know each of our guests upon arrival to determine which of the excursions would be the best fit for each guest and such guest’s entire party. Based upon this input and the current conditions we suggest an excursion for the entire party or for smaller groups.

We also plan our menus in advance based upon guest input. Thus after you have had an exhilarating day upon the water or in the jungle, you do not have to decide what you want to eat. We have a set menu determined for you. We post the menu each morning so that you have an opportunity to advise us if you do not want to eat what we have scheduled for the evening. In such an instance we suggest other alternatives based upon availability.

One of our guests once told me that he was really enjoying his vacation here as he got to take a break from making all the decisions. He let us make them for him. Of course, if you don’t want to take a break, just let us know that as well. We will let you continue thinking if you want to do so.

Today it rained. If you want to call it that. I got slightly wet on my ride from Isla Bastimentos to Bocas Town on Isla Colon. I wore my rain jacket and the only part of me which was covered by the rain jacket which ended up wet was the center of my t-shirt where the rain jacket’s zipper rested.

We need some real rain. Rain that comes down hard for an extended period of time. All of Panama is suffering from one of the longest droughts in recent history. We live in the rain forest after all. We expect it to rain.

When we haven’t had rain for some period of time we begin to make sacrifices in hopes of inducing the sky to open up. One of the first sacrifices we must make is that I make a trip into town. You see, I rarely leave the property, but if I do – inevitably it rains. And today it did rain, just not much. It was almost an insult to my sacrifice the small amount of rain that we received. It has continued to look like it is going to rain off and on for most of the day. So maybe if we are really lucky and since I am planning to go to the beach tomorrow – we will get some rain either tonight or tomorrow. I will keep my fingers crossed.

One of the challenges associated with living on an island is that you have limited access to an extended workforce. For most positions it isn’t a problem as you can rotate the schedule of your staff to take care of the time off for each employee. However, there are certain positions for which you do not hire multiples and for those vacation time is a bit more challenging.

We have a cook and a helper in the kitchen. We are fortunate in that they can turn out some incredible food. Our cook is kind enough to teach many of the different things she makes to her helper so that the helper can take on additional responsibility and fill in for the cook at certain meals. The helper lacks the experience of the cook which is why he is currently the helper and not the cook. He is hoping to return to school someday so cooking is not what he wants to be doing for a living. The cook on the other hand loves to cook and you can tell. Her food is amazing.

Well, it is her turn to go on vacation. She doesn’t take vacation on a regular basis like all of our other employees and she is absolutely entitled to it. I on the other hand cannot find anyone to work with the helper in the kitchen for the time she will be away. So it appears that the food the kitchen turns out for a few weeks will be a bit different than the food prepared in our kitchen most of the time. It will still be delicious, but it will be more like going to a party at a friend’s house rather than dinner at a restaurant. Why is that you ask? I will be back in the kitchen for a period of time. I can design menus for our cook to prepare, but I do not have the same skills that she has to turn out the same meals she cooks. I will miss her immensely, but I would prefer to miss her for a brief period of time rather than let her burn out and miss her all of the time.

We just had a family of four leave after a stay with us of ten days. I have been communicating with this family, mainly the dad, for almost a year now as they planned their Spring Break 2007. This vacation was different than they normally take and so they asked a lot of questions in advance to make sure they were getting exactly what they wanted in their vacation.

We helped them find a hotel in Panama City and also arranged for a guide to take them around the city. This makes the transition into the vacation so much easier as it is one less thing for one to have to deal with.

Once they arrived in Bocas del Toro Panama – in the rain – we got them fed the first of many meals and took them to their cabana. They got comfortable and the sun came out. They walked around the grounds to get a feel for everything, spent some time down at the dock and then came back up for lunch. After a round of questions and a great pizza, they were pretty sure they had made the right decision for their vacation. The adventure was about to begin.

Over the next ten days, they took numerous trips to the beach. They went fishing. They found dolphins. They made friends and most importantly they made memories. I am certain that the memories of this trip will last a long long time.

Water. I have been thinking about it quite a bit for the past month or so. You see we are experiencing an unusual draught these days. We haven’t had much rain for some time now. The town closest to us actually ran out of water for about three days. Not having water is scary stuff. But it is the kind of thing that you really do not stop and think about most of the time in a developed nation. Water is just there. You can turn on the tap and out comes the water.

The only time I remember being concerned in the least bit about water and access to it was when Houston was hit by a hurricane. I remember filling the bathtub with water so that we could be assured we would have water in the event the municipal utilities were harmed in any manner. We didn’t have power for several days following that hurricane but I do not remember actually losing access to water.

Life on Isla Bastimentos requires that we constantly monitor our water consumption. We have to make sure that we will have water to support our guests. Each of our cabanas is self sufficient with regard to the water supply our guests actually use. We never run into issues with consumption at the cabanas. And if we did, we can divert water from the main supply to a cabana. Instead we monitor our usage in the main building and in all of the support buildings. We have all learned to wash our hands and brush our teeth with a limited use of water.

I have learned to ration my use of water. I still have a long way to go. Water is very important to us all and yet we use and abuse it day in and day out. Where would we be without water? Exactly not a question one wants to answer.

When you eat dinner on your vacation do you want to eat by yourself with just your party or do you want to dine with other people staying at the same lodge? We can set it up either way. If you are on a family adventure vacation, you may want to share stories of your adventures with others at dinner each night. Or you might want to share a meal with just your family.

We can arrange it either way. We frequently sit at communal tables and invite our guests to decide where they want to sit. The resulting conversation is interesting. To hear about an adventure from a variety of viewpoints broadens the experience. One person may notice fine details that others didn’t expressly remember but once they details are brought to the forefront then they become a part of the experience for the whole group. A different person may have noticed an unusual landmark and point it out to the group. The photographs that each person takes during the excursion also provide input into the discussion.

Then there are those who are celebrating their family time. They may enjoy the group dynamic during the cocktail hour and then prefer a private table for dinner itself.

We try to read our guests so that we can give them what they want. After all it is your vacation – make it what you want it to be.

My family wasn’t sure what I would be doing when I moved to Isla Bastimentos here in Panama. My aunts found it very hard to believe that anyone would want to move to a very secluded island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. What does it take to run an eco adventure lodge? How will you make sure your children are educated? Where do you go to do your grocery shopping?

All kinds of questions are thrown at you when you tell people you are moving with your family to an island. There are those who believe you must be crazy to throw away a perfectly good life in the city: a great job, a car, a nice house, etc. What do you gain by moving away from all of that?

I gain all kinds of special time with my family. Each morning my husband and I spend about an hour with the kids before our day gets started. We just hang out together and talk and play. I gain remarkable sunrises and sunsets. I gain children who are bilingual. My son translates for me. I lose out on so many things in life that do not matter: traffic, sensational journalism, violent crime. So really I think the most important thing it takes to run an eco adventure lodge is a dream – the dream for a different life.

Can I really match my appetite for eco adventure with my hunger for maintaining balance in my life? Can I really let go of corporate America as quickly as I put on my flip flops? Is it possible to embrace living on a island and losing the “freedom” of driving a car? Can I make new friends on regular basis and feel as if I have known them for a lifetime? Can I free myself in this process?

Oh yes – all of this is possible. My appetite for eco adventure is really no different than the appetite I used to have for excitement in my job. My job now is eco adventure and sharing it with many other people. Do I maintain balance in my life? For sure. As I sit down to do my work each day I am interrupted by the ebb and flow of my children’s daily activities and those of our guests. I will admit that losing my Blackberry was difficult in the beginning, but now the thought of giving of my flip flops to go back to corporate America is laughable. I am trapped in paradise if you will. Our island has no roads. To go anywhere you must get in a boat and head to another land mass. I can’t drive a boat. So if there are no boat captains around the only way I could get somewhere else would be to head out in a kayak – self propelled transportation. New friends. We have the good fortune to meet so many different people here. I meet people from all different walks of life. Oddly enough you learn quickly that there is some interest you share which then spurs interesting conversation and quite possibly a friendship which will last a lifetime. Am I free? You betcha.

Fast forward to March 2007, we have been open for business for close to two years. Last year we experienced a tropical pregnancy and birth abroad of our daughter Boty. So now we have a beautiful eight month old daughter who is a dual citizen of both the USA and Panama., a precious bilingual three year old son and a wonderful life.

I went to the beach last week with some family and friends who were visiting. As I walked along the beach checking out the gorgeous views I realized how lucky I was. I have a very rich life even if I do not have much money in my pockets.

We have daily challenges but we face them head on and do what is best for our family and our business. We have become environmental stewards and our business is slowly becoming a success. Each day I am thankful for the fact that I met, fell in love with and married a very determined man. I am happy that he had a dream and the guts to follow that dream. I am happy that I adopted the dream. I am happy that we are raising our children in such a fabulous place and attempting to leave them an incredible legacy. And honestly, I am happy that I am just a little bit crazy.

At this point, we attempt the transition from construction to operation. Installing communications, building a website, finding employees, and establishing a client base takes time.

Setting ourselves up to have communications on a Panama island where there are no other utilities was no small feat. We researched the equipment necessary to send an Internet signal from one island to another. We determined that we would need a radio tower over 100 feet tall to clear the tallest trees on Isla Bastimentos in the line of sight from the radio tower on Isla Colon. We researched different voice over internet protocol phone providers to determine which company to use. We purchased all the necessary equipment. We had the tower constructed. We did large amounts of rework on the tower as it was not completed to our standards. We determined how the tower would need to be installed and supported. We installed the tower and hooked up all the communications equipment. The day we went live on the Internet was a really big day for us.

Next came the website – get as much information about what we have here in Panama on the web as possible. Add photos to help describe what we have created here. Given that we didn’t have any background in this area it was just another area we took the time to learn and attempt to master.

Finding the right employees takes time. They need to enjoy living in our secluded pristine environment. We have spent an extended period of time getting the right people here to help us. It will be an ongoing challenge but for now we have a good group.

Establishing a client base requires providing a good product and spreading the word. We are working on both on a daily basis.

Small bites, we are together. Are we crazy? Yes, a little bit. Are we happy? Yes. Are we tired? Yes. Would we do it again? Yes.

We begin to really see the light at the end of the tunnel however as we get closer it feels like someone pushes the light just out of reach. The infrastructure work is completed. Main dock construction begins and is completed. Finish work in all the buildings is ongoing. Stefanie and Scott move in with Jay’s parents in preparation for the move to Panama. Stefanie quits her job. We set dates for the move.

Jim comes back to Houston to collect me, Tres, Wahoo and Bimini. I am sure that everyone on the flight with us would have preferred we leave a few things behind. We have the maximum luggage and carry on baggage allowed. Bitzser the cat moves in with Jim’s stepmother Marilyn. Jim’s mom makes the trip to Panama with us so that she can help with Tres while I set up house.

Prior to our arrival Jay gets the main building as clean as possible and puts in foam mattresses and a crib for Tres. I begin the arduous task of unpacking all that has been sent to Panama. We are still operating with the small propane refrigerator and a small generator, but we are together at last. Jay returns to Houston to get Stefanie and Scott. When they arrive, we move to the regular refrigerators and turn on the full size generators.

Somewhere along the way we have moved into the second phase – building the lodge facilities. Jim and Jay install a toilet in one of the cabanas to improve living standards a bit. The guys build pathways, five more cabanas and begin the main building. Scott Harrison Viola is born on September 6, 2002. He comes home to live with his mom and his Aunt Renée. I conveniently get myself laid off so that I will be ready for the move to Panama. My severence date gets pushed back several times as other attorneys leave or go on maternity leave. Jim has lost almost 40 pounds on a four-bowl diet and constant construction activities. They eat out of camp bowls for each meal – one at breakfast, one at lunch and two at dinner. Jim and Jay sit around in the dark and debate or come up with ways to solve the world’s problems. As they are sitting outside using a light would attract bugs so they learn all kinds of new skills which may be completed in complete darkness. Eating without actually observing your food, advanced mathematic calculations in their heads, and how to make Spam Pad Thai among other things.

So on December 6, 1999 Jim left for Bocas del Toro Panama in search of the site for the dream to unfold. He stayed with a generous Texan who had moved to Bocas some years before. Using a small boat the Texan owned, Jim checked out different spots throughout the archipelago until he came across Macca Bight – a peninsula on Isla Bastimentos. The peninsula was a ways out of town so it wouldn’t have any utilities from town, but it had gorgeous views, and put us much closer to the parts of the archipelago we would explore with our guests on our eco excursions. Jim made a deal with the man whose family had been on the land for years and years.

Meanwhile, back in Houston, I packed up our house in order to move into Jay’s house with Stefanie so that we could conserve funds and minimize expenses so that we would have more money to send to Panama. Jay resigned from his job in preparation for his pendng move to Panama. Stefanie and Jay got married and Stefanie moved into Jay’s house. I followed soon thereafter with two dogs, a cat and a house full of stuff.

It was at this time that people began to call us crazy and to wonder if we really knew what we were doing. Jim and Jay were running off to the Panamanian jungle to build a fishing camp. Stefanie and I barely knew each other and rather than living with our husbands we were living together in a small house with four animals. Thankfully, we have never cared much about what other people think. We plan, we execute, we deal with challenges which arise, and we look toward the light at the end of the tunnel. Small bites. Rather than look at the enormity of the project which included first taming the jungle, second building a lodge and third operating a successful and sustainable eco adventure lodge.

I was a senior at the University of Texas when I met Jim. He had a strong vision of what he wanted in life. He knew that he wanted to do something different and that it would be great if it could be near salt water. So you could say that I knew very early on that I was in for an adventure.

We met Jay through one of Jim’s cousins and as it turned out he had an interest in a different life as well. The three of us began talking, saving money and planning for what the future might hold. During the following years Jim and I got married, I attended law school part time, graduated and began practicing law, Jim and Jay bought a boat together to test the strength of our friendship, Jim was transferred out of Houston and we all traveled throughout the Caribbean and Central America to further solidify the dream.

In 1998 we moved back to Houston about 5 minutes from where Jay was living. Our planning took up almost all of our free time; however, Jay met Stefanie and began dating her in spite of his self-avowed bachelorism. Over time, Jay and Stefanie’s relationship grew and she was invited to learn a bit about our crazy plans.

Stefanie and I sent Jay and Jim to Bocas del Toro, Panama in October 1999 to see if it was a good fit for our plans. Upon their return from Bocas, the guys informed us that it was the right place but that it would take a bit of time to find the exact location. Panama had so much to offer: land at a reasonable price, currency on par with the US Dollar, an infrastructure much better than other Central American countries, a biological wonderland, an extensive national park system, it was beneath the hurricane belt, its people seemed to be so welcoming and a fair number of them spoke English. The four of us decided to proceed with Panama. Jim was the best person to keep the process moving. Jim resigned from his job at about the same time he had been informed that he was to acquire his dream job – business development responsibilities throughout Latin America.