Paradise Fishing Lodge

Founded on Panama's Western Pacific coast to put anglers within reach of Hannibal Bank and Montuosa Island, Paradise Fishing Lodge sits in Quebrada de Piedra, just south of David, on the Gulf of Chiriquí. It holds the only full-service marina in the gulf. Coiba National Marine Park, the largest island in Central America ringed by 37 smaller islands, lies about 30 miles offshore, and the surrounding waters carry roosterfish, cubera snapper, sailfish, and black marlin through the year. The fleet runs six 28 and 32-foot Contenders, two 33-foot World Cats, and a 31-foot Bertram with an air-conditioned salon. It is a working base built around the water, not around the room. Guests fish from sunup, break for a lunch packed aboard the boat, and return to a pool with a swim-up bar and a waterfall. Rain tends to fall in the afternoon rather than the morning, even in the wet season, so early hours on the water stay clear. Dinners run four courses, coffee comes from the owner's own plantation nearby, and laundry and fibre-optic wifi are handled daily. Captains and mates work the boats species by species, adjusting routes around Hannibal Bank when conditions shift. Ground transport to and from the lodge is arranged directly. It is, above all, a lodge organised around getting anglers onto fish and back again well fed.