Imagine going after your dream business…on a tropical island. What does it really take to build an island resort? In 2002, four city slickers set out to build their dream business in the Panamanian rainforest: called Tranquilo Bay.

All of the buildings at Tranquilo Bay—are constructed from steel, virtually unheard of in that corner of Panama: but they wanted to protect against termites, sea air, and earthquake damage.

Jim Kimball and Jay Viola knew nothing about construction before beginning work on the buildings. They learned everything they needed from the Internet during Sunday visits to the mainland.

“We built Tranquilo Bay inside the rainforest overlooking the Caribbean Sea and the beautiful Panamanian Jungle. Our central location within the archipelago of Bocas del Toro permits us to explore some of the most biologically diverse areas of Panama and Central America: an archipelago of some 68 tropical islands”

http://www.tranquilobay.com/home.htm

Superb clip!

Great clip, interesting story and love the pictures!

I skimmed through the story and it said that they are building their cabanas to make a profit through eco-tourism. However it was troubling to see the slides where they were cutting down the remaining trees on the eight acres and are projected to build another six cabanas.

I wonder if there was a way they could have saved the trees?

Tranquilo Bay's total site is over 100 acres. The area used for the cabanas and the lodge itself (8 acres) was at one time a field of bananas. Most of the big trees were chopped down previously by the local people. The number of trees felled for the current cabanas was minimal and the trees to be cut for the future cabanas will be minimal as well.

Thanks for the information! It helps fill in the gaps in the story!