CARIBBEAN ARCHIPELAGO RAINFOREST RETREAT
FOR SALE BY OWNER

Site: The 4,525.56 m2 (1+ acre) site is located on Isla Solarte, Bahia Honda, in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Republic of Panama. The land is shaped like a dome with the top approximately 45 feet above the water of Bahia Honda. This site is “off grid”, which means there are no municipal services such as water, electricity, and sewer. Therefore, the design of the house must include processes to generate electricity, collect and store water, and treat waste.

Design Concept of Main House: The overall concept design for the house is Bali Modern. There are two basic components of this type of design. The first is a feeling of the outside coming in and the inside going out. It is an attempt to integrate the nature of the outdoors with the security and refinement of the interior. This is accomplished with very large interior spaces with extremely high ceilings linked to the outdoors through grand doors and large windows.

The second component is a massive basic structure that is characterized by stone, tile, concrete, and steel. The basic structure is then accented and refined by tropical wood elements such as doors, cabinets, bars, etc.

Main House: 2,109 sq. ft. The living, dining, and kitchen area (Great Room) are connected to the covered terraza by three sets of large French wooden doors. Each set is 10’ by 10’ and there are 4 doors per set (12 total). There is a master bedroom (with walk in closet), a guest bedroom, and two full baths. The vaulted ceiling is from 13 ft. to 24 ft. at the peak. The master bedroom is about 7 ft. higher than the main floor. The floor in all these areas is very high quality porcelain tile (Sorrento bone). The kitchen area is a mixture of wood, tile, and concrete.
Casita: Small house 330 sq. ft. equally divided into 2 parts. One part is the machine room, which is for solar equipment, laundry, and general storage. The other part is an office/bedroom and full bath, the living quarters of the Capataz.

Basic structure: The big house and casita consists of poured concrete, rebar, concrete block, and light gage steel (carriolas). The light gage steel rafters support a massive roof made of composite concrete (teja fibrocemento). The concrete poured footings use a seismic beam construction design that meet California standards for earthquake zone construction.

There are two bathrooms in the main house. Each has a Toto toilet, shower, and sink. These bathrooms have a designer bamboo and weave ceramic tile. The bathroom in the casita has a toilet, shower, sink and standard ceramic tile. There is also an outdoor shower.

There are 8 windows in the big house, 1 sliding glass door (6 ft. x 6 ft.), and 4 windows in the casita. The windows are a louver design and made of aluminum. They all have steel security bars and screens. Great Room, 2 windows 5.6 ft. x 6.3 ft.; Guest Bedroom, 2 windows 5.6 ft. x 5 ft.; Master Bedroom, 2 windows 4 ft. x 4.6 ft. and sliding glass door; Machine Room, 2 windows of 6 ft. x 4 ft. and 3 ft. x 2 ft.; Capataz Office, 2 windows 3.3 ft x 1.6 ft. and 6 ft. x 4 ft.

Solar energy system: Located on the roof of the casita and in the machine room. It has 10 120watt and 4 130watt Kyocera solar panels. There are 8 Rolls Surette 685A/H batteries. The batteries and computers regulating and monitoring the system are located in the machine room. The system can produce up to 65 amps per hour on a sunny day and store about 1,250 amp hours in the batteries.

Two plumbing systems: Shared by the big house and casita; a grey water and a black water system. The grey water and black water are plumbed separately. The grey water system is for the water from sinks, showers and the washing machine. It empties into a tank and then percolates through a field. The black water system is for the waste produced by three toilets.  This utilizes a biological filtration process like the RUCK system engineered in the USA. The black water flows into a separate tank where it is decontaminated. The sanitized remains must be removed every 3-5 years.

Extensive landscaping: It includes retaining walls for erosion control, a nature walkway, a tiled outdoor shower, and various plantings of grasses, trees, flowers, and bushes. Several wood retaining walls were built and peanut grass planted to control erosion. A nature walkway about 3.3 feet wide and 730 feet long was constructed out of wood, concrete block, stones, and packed clay. It circles the base of the dome and midway up the hill for viewing birds and plants and controlling erosion.

Plantings include: Several varieties of fruits, such as bananas, primitiva, water apple, lime, lemon and orange. Flowering plants, such as hibiscus, bougainvilleas, iris, orchids, gingers and several varieties of heliconias. Foliage, such as ti plants, crininum, alocacacias, Persian shields, caricature plant, thunbergia erecta, brunfelsia panciflora, lemongrass. There are numerous varieties of decorative and coconut palms. Indigenous plants on the site include mangos, rose apple, nancy and nispero.

Concrete walkway:  From the dock to the big house and casita. It is 3.3 ft. wide and 200 feet long. There is also a concrete walkway around the big house and around the casita that is 2 feet wide and 215 feet long.

There is also a concrete walkway over the water to the docking facility. It is 4 ft. wide and 76 feet long. The covered docking facility (about 400 sq. ft.) is made of poured concrete, rebar, light gage steel, and composite concrete.

Water retrieval and storage system: Rainwater is caught on the roof of the big house and directed into a 2,600-gallon cistern. A high efficiency water pump, two water filters, and a chlorinator deliver and endless supply of pure water.

COMPLETELY FURNISHED: The furnishings were chosen specifically for this house and are included in the purchase price. Some examples include:
Bedrooms: hand crafted King and Queen mahogany beds with quality mattresses, pillows sheets, etc.
Great Room Kitchen area: energy efficient refrigerator, gas stove, ice-maker, dinner ware, silver ware, glasses, pots/pans, blender, utensils, etc.
Great Room Entertainment area: Samsung DPL large screen TV and stand, 2 leather recliners, leather couch, custom made teak/glass coffee table, 3 oversized captain bar chairs, etc
Great Room Computer Area: computer desk, secure file drawers, office chair, and wireless internet connection.
Terraza Area: 42’ round cast aluminum table with tempered glass top and 4 chairs, 2 wicker rocking chairs, 2 Bali style woven chairs and matching couch.

Almost everything in the house is included except for a few personal things. There are too many items list here.


ASKING PRICE $415,000.00 US

We have given you a taste of the property through pictures and words. However, there is nothing like the real thing. For more information or to arrange a showing of the property please contact us by email.

EMAIL OWNERS AT nuvista4sale@gmail.com