Overview

Tropic Star Lodge is a vacation and fishing resort so remote it is only accessible by boat or plane. A place where luxury and adventure meet. A paradise sliced from the side of a mountain and surrounded by a dense jungle rich with wildlife and tropical flora and the bountiful Pacific Ocean. It is truly "National Geographic Country". In fact, the August 1999, edition of The Robb Report named Tropic Star Lodge as the BEST fishing lodge in the world - the "crown jewel" of fishing.

"Panama" means ”abundance of fish", and Piñas Bay truly lives up to this translation. Most of the area’s best fishing is just 20 minutes from the lodge - right out its front door, making this a truly unique location. The seas are quite calm which makes Tropic Star even more popular.

Black, blue and striped marlin abound in numbers unheard of elsewhere. Pacific sailfish are there year round and from April through July, multiple hookups are the norm rather than the exception. Dolphins are also caught all year and average from 20 to 60 lbs. Each year, yellowfin tuna are boated in the 150 to 250 lb. range. Inshore, there are amberjack, snapper, grouper, roosterfish, pompano, rainbow runner, mackerel, jack and the list keeps on going. In recent years, even tarpon have made their way through the Panama Canal and a few are caught and lost each year.

The lodge has a fresh water swimming pool and bar. A jungle trail has been cut across to La Playa Blanca, where you may enjoy swimming, sunning, and shelling on the beautiful white sand beach. This trail is over a small mountain and takes 30 to 40 minutes to hike there. In order to really enjoy this walk you should be in very good physical shape! Kayaks are also available to enjoy the bay and Piñas River on your own. A jungle river trip to bargain with the "indigenous" Indian tribes is a fascinating experience, which can also be arranged.

Guests stay in spacious, air-conditioned twin-bedded rooms (king-size upon request), with private baths and dressing areas. Each room has a surrounding porch which offers a view of the mountains and bay. If guests want to view the bay from 150 feet up the mountainside, they can pay an extra fee to stay in the original owner's home known as El Palicio, or The Palace. The Palace can sleep six and has a sunken living room and outside terrace, both with a beautiful panoramic view of the bay and surrounding mountains.

Even in the middle of the Darien Jungle, guests will have a "royal" experience when dining. Each day starts with a made-to-order breakfast, then lunch aboard the boat (or the veranda for non-fishing guests), and when they return in the afternoon, hot fish fingers or sashimi are served on the porch or poolside. After a cool drink at the bar or poolside, you can swim and relax in the lodge’s freshwater pool. Later, guests return to the dining room where a multi-course candlelight dinner complete with wine is served. Fresh baked pie, cherries jubilee, or baked Alaska round off the end of a perfect day.