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Michael KleinIslas Secas Panama Rooms 7 casitas Price $990–$1,390/night Luxury 5 stars Specialties Fishing, diving, sailing Contact islassecas.com In 2001, while day-tripping around Islas Secas, a 16-island archipelago 12 miles off the Pacific coast of Panama, Michael Klein watched as a humpback whale and her calf breached within 50 yards of his boat. “The place was magical,” recalls Klein, now 36 and CEO of the $1 billion hedge fund Pacificor. “[But] I wasn’t remotely interested in buying it.” The owner had other ideas, and on the cab ride to the airport he sold Klein the ten-square-mile island chain for an undisclosed sum (Klein’s not telling)—the contract penned on the back of a used envelope. It was a fitting move for a man whose motto is Always Go. “It’s inevitably the things we don’t do that we regret,” says Klein. After he took ownership, Klein aimed to minimize his footprint. He had seven mobile yet luxurious casitas (with private decks and bathrooms) scattered across the largest island, Isla Cavada. He rigged the place to run on solar power and tapped a volcanic aquifer for drinking water. He planted an organic farm on Cavada to complement the day’s catch from the sea and hired a French-trained Panamanian chef to put a cosmopolitan spin on island fare. 
But after three years, the Santa Barbara, California–based multimillionaire realized that his tropical home, which he visited only a few days a month, would be a more productive asset if he opened it to the public. In 2004, he did exactly that, giving access to the property to 14 guests at a time. And now he savors the process of cultivating his own little corner of paradise. “Running a top-notch boutique resort is much more difficult than running a hedge fund,” he says. “But it’s also much more fun.”RESORT REPORT At Islas Secas, guests can fish Hannibal Bank, 45 minutes away by boat, where 800-pound black marlin hunt 300-pound yellowfin tuna; float right from the dock for some of the best diving along Central America’s Pacific coast; or surf at a half-dozen breaks within a 40-minute boat ride. The high (and dry) season is December to April, but surfing and diving are best from May to November. Comments (0)
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