You are here :: Panama Real Estate » About-panama » Isla-contadora

The Name Contadora

Why would you name an island “accountant?” There is a beautiful tropical island in the Pacific when legend has it either the Spanish or the pirates who raided them stopped to count their gold. Isla Contadora (Accountant Island) is in the Pearl Islands off the Pacific Coast of Panama.  Isla Contadora has come a long way from treasure galleons and pirate ships. Its airport (OTD) has regular flights to and from Panama City so that you can easily visit its beaches and hotels. You can even buy property on Isla Contadora.

Isla Contadora History, Old and Recent

When the Spanish plundered the gold of Peru they sailed their ships up the West Coast of South America to the closest crossing point to the Caribbean, Panama. Along the way pirates waylaid those treasure ships that they could. Two stories persist. One is that Contadora Island was a stopping point for the treasure galleons where the royal bookkeepers checked the cargo. The other story is that the pirates stopped in the Pearl Islands to count and distribute the gold taken from Spanish ships.

The gold ran out and later Spain lost its possessions from Mexico to Argentina in the early 1800’s.

Isla Contadora reentered the news when a Panamanian businessman started a resort in the 1960’s. In the 1980’s the leaders of Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela met on Isla Contadora in the first organized attempt to stop the civil wars then raging in Central America. Later Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos met to negotiate the turnover of the Panama Canal to Panama.

Today Isla Contadora has many resorts, great beaches, private housing, and a fifteen minute flight to Panama City.

Isla Contadora Property

A current property for sale on Isla Contadora is a five bedroom, four bath 3,300 sq. ft. one level home with an asking price of $400,000.

A 1,500 sq. meter Isla Contadora beach front lot is selling for $1.5 million USD.

A 700 hectares Isla Contadora property with 3.5 km of ocean beach is being offered for $50,000,000 USD. This large holding has three rivers, lots of white sandy beach and, according to the owner, great fishing. This property is ideal for investment and development to take advantage of Panama’s continuing economic boom.

Property in Panama

Panama is in the midst of a dramatic economic expansion fueled by foreign investment, expansion of the Panama Canal, and internal re-vitalization of its infrastructure. Panama has the highest per capital investment from the United States of all Latin America. In addition, Panama has the best telecommunications, highways, ports, and airports of all Latin America. Property has been steadily appreciating, especially property sold to and owned by retirees as Panama has become the premier retirement destination in the Americas.

If you have an interest in renting or buying property on Isla Contadora please contact us. We do business throughout Panama, including “accountant island.”