PEDRO GONZALES

Want to visit Pedro Gonzales?  It’s now or never!  The beautiful Pedro Gonzales is being swallowed by developers.  But there is still time to brave the noise of the rumbling earth graders and the dust of excavators and enjoy the still pristine Isla de Don Bernardo beach.

This is our second trip to Pedro Gonzales and we are getting a better understanding of the area.  We had heard that a pearl oyster farm was being developed by French-Tahitian entrepreneurs.  We thought it was a great idea since the natural pearls were becoming extinct and the Tahitian had had great success with pearl farming.  

We decided to check it out.  Probably the building on the beach would have some clue.  But what we found was far from saving the pearl oysters… it’s all about development and money-making, without respect for the environment.

The beautiful hut on the beach attracted us.  Was it a restaurant? A bar?  Nope… it’s a sales office for the PEARL ISLANDS development.  What a contrast with San Jose!  

Here, a consortium of investors is planning a boom: two marinas, a commercial harbor, a five-star hotel, hundreds of condominiums, villas, luxury homes and build-to-suit lots.  

Yet, we failed to see where the energy was going to come from, the fresh water, and how the wastes were going to be treated.  To the already threatened environment of Las Perlas, this monstrous development seems to us like a death warrant.  Of course, the developers claim that they will keep the northern third of the island as a bio-reserve, but even if they preserve some of the land life, the wastes will go straight out to the ocean.  The scope of the development is, frankly, shocking.

We set off for a walk, fighting construction dust everywhere, hopping over open ditches for planned canalizations, and finally found an abandoned orchard.  Monkey JP was up the trees in a jiffy, shaking off sweet mandarin-limes for our Mojitos and Dominos. 

  A few papayas and banana stalks later, we returned to the beach and sat there, admiring the view and wondering how long this would last.  

Seated on the big red “X” of the planned 5-star hotel, we peered at our yachts at anchor, savoring our luck and praying that the Pearl Islands development project would never reach its full scale.

In the morning, Gary found out that his outboard engine hadbeen stolen, and, disgusted with civilization, we all took off for parts unknown the next day, scattering to the four winds: Wet Bar to Costa Rica, Interlude to the Galapagos, Kaija's Song bumming around the islands, and Domino back to the city.

Until next beach…

dominomarie