We Offer Corporate Trips. And Yes, They are Awesome

The Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge caters experience. Sure, we catch lots of fish—and big ones. And yes, the fishing here is good enough to be described as world-class.

In terms of size and abundance, the yellowfin tuna fishery here is among the best you’ll find anywhere. Folks have been coming to this part of the world to target black marlin, roosterfish and cubera snapper for decades—long before we opened our doors.

Yes, we catch lots of fish, but that’s just the beginning. To describe this place only in terms of fishing missing part of the point. We curate experiences.

The experiences that our team provides lend themselves to a variety of demographics. One of our favorite types of group—and one that we are perfectly situated to host—are corporate packages. From leadership teams to hosting prospective clients, a trip to the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge offers the remedy to the stale coffee, day-old do-not corporate retreat.

What follows is an invitation to bring your people to experience our wonderful part of the world. It is also an introduction to the types of experiences that our team is able to create.

For many of the corporate trips we’ve already hosted, the benefits include not just team building (and actually enjoying time spent with co-workers) and closing deals with prospective clients, but doing so while creating lifelong memories and experiencing good times that you’ll never forget. What’s more from the time you arrive in Panama City, we handle all of the logistics—VIP airport greetings and customs package, overnight hotels, domestic transfers—everything.

A Culinary Adventure

Of course our team can cater to people who love fishing. But we are also well equipped to host those new to the experience. One of the primary charms of the experience that we provide lies in the food that we create.

Our culinary team is skilled and dedicated. They transform the mountains of yellowfin and dorado that we catch into incredible dining experiences. Fish from the store or from the restaurant, even those that fly fish in every day, do not compare to eating fish that you and your friends just caught.

Happy hour, the time each afternoon when we roll out the appetizers, is the stuff of legend. Have you ever heard of a yellowfin charcuterie board? Platters of sashimi, sushi, poke, and seared tuna steaks.

Our team makes incredible ceviche. And they do so by the gallon. We make it from dorado and often from conch that we buy locally. This goes great with conch fritters and grilled lobster tails.

This combined fishing and culinary experience takes place within the confines of a private, beachfront lodge on a private island. The Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge is, in fact, Panama’s only private island sportfishing lodge. The great fishing, dining and relaxation are washed down by all of the liquor and beer you care to drink (this is included in your package—none of that nickel and dime, keep track of your bar tab nonsense).

Where a One of A Kind Experience meets Specially Curated Hospitality

There are many great things about out our part of the world and how our lodge is situated. The experiences that we provide, however, result from much more than just being in a great place. We’ve created our lodge and compiled our fleet with the specific intent of being able to create unique experiences. Here’s a bit of perspective on what that means for our guests.

The Gulf of Chiriqui hosts one of the best yellowfin tuna fisheries in the world. It’s also one of the best two or three black marlin destinations in the northern hemisphere. Our guests consistently encounter roosterfish and cubera snapper while fishing us. Not only are there many of them here, they are bigger than in other places… 

In terms of consistency of action and size of fish encountered, the Gulf of Chiriqui provides an incredibly well-rounded fishery. Isla Parida, the island home of our lodge, is perfectly situated to access all of this. We’re literally surrounded by one of the best combinations of inshore and offshore fishing that you’ll find anywhere in the world.

To access this incredible fishing opportunity, we run a fleet of four power catamarans. They are specially outfitted to this brand of fishing. The outboards are mounted on the back corners of the boat. We can spin on pods of porpoise that co-school with herds of tuna.

Our boats have casting platforms on the bows. These are perfect for throwing poppers into the wash that bounces off of rocky shorelines. They are ideals for slinging stick baits into tuna frenzies. Have you ever seen five anglers hooked up at the same time? We see it with some frequency and it’s a wonderful experience.

The rails of the boats are open. They are perfect for stand-up on a big black marlin or a 200-pound yellowfin. Our boats were specifically chosen to allow anglers to cast from the bow while livebaiting from the cockpit.

The boats are equipped with live wells, tuna tubes, outriggers. Each is outfitted with heavy spinning gear, a variety of conventional tackle (jigging set-ups and 30 pound to 80-pound outfits) and electric deep dropping reels.

The places that we fish offer an incredible variety of options. The boats and tackle that we deploy are purposefully designed to target all of them. Like our dining and hospitality offerings, we can tailor the fishing experience not only to the needs of the group but to the wants of individual anglers.

If your group is composed of a mix of serious, experienced anglers and some who have never done it before, we can mix and match our boats. Your group can divide itself each day into those who want to hard charge into schools of tuna and marlin. Others can opt for a more gently paced day of inshore fishing.

If a person or two wants to hang back and enjoy the lodge, they can hang out on the beach or go kayaking. We can even give them walking directions to visit our neighbor who operates a beachfront bar.

Many tourism operations define what you are allowed to do. Our approach is quite the opposite. We invite you to experience all of the charm of Isla Parida. From there, our team makes available a diversity of experiences. This ability is of unique importance when hosting a corporate group.

The Perfect Place for a Corporate Trip

When you think corporate team-building trips, you might think stale coffee, day-old do-nuts and motivational speakers wearing poorly-fitting suits. You might think conference centers at cheap hotels and Powerpoint presentations on the importance of believing in yourself. Nobody likes those things.

Our brand of corporate trip is something more. It is something better.

Our lodge has capacity for 20 people. Our chefs are ready. There is not a single stale bagel on our entire island.

Rather your team will enjoy each other’s company in the presence of tuna frenzies and pods of spinner dolphins. You can talk sales goals over cold beers. Your conversations might be interrupted by laughter and the types of exclamation that happens in the aftermath of fishing experiences that do not take place in most other parts of the world.

If your people are like most, there may be something that confuses and surprises them. It takes place at about 5:30 pm on the first day of the trip. This is when our culinary team brings out the first wave of appetizers.

Sashimi. Sushi rolls. Seared tuna. Ceviche. Conch fritters. Smoked tuna bellies. Chicken wings—three ways. Freshly fried plantain chips.

The appetizers appear as a tsunami might. It is a mountain of food. It keeps coming. It’s washed down by all of those cold, adult beverages that you don’t need to keep track of (unless you’re worried about being hungover the next day).

The confusion comes when your people look at each and ask some variation of this question. “If these are the appetizers, how am I going to eat dinner?”

This is a great question. It comes up every time. It’s usually asked by someone who is smiling and laughing.

The question resolves itself when dinner is served. Catching the biggest fish of your life takes lots of energy. Our chefs make sure that you are prepared.

Our team takes great pride in hosting groups of people. We’re well set up to provide a variety of experiences. This results from a combination of three things:

1. An intimate boutique lodge on a small private island.
2. A fishing lodge that is surrounded by some of the best fishing in the world.
3. A dedicated hospitality team that can deliver an incredible variety of incredible options.

Your group can book the entire place. You can set up a specially-designed corporate experience that delivers to your exact specifications.  

We’ve done it before—for groups from across the United States and around the world—and we’re really good at it. What’s more, we bet you a mountain of sashimi that your people will like our brand of corporate trip much better than the stale coffee, day-old donut type deal.