For the fifth consecutive year, Contadora, a 54-square-mile island in the Pearl Islands archipelago of Panama, hosted the Pepe’s Island Boogie, a tropical retreat that included paddle boarding, scuba diving and, most importantly, skydiving. With eight beaches and a runway that stretched from one end of the island to the other, the location seemed built for a beach boogie.

Hugo Guiraud, Lorenzo Romagosa, Toby Shacalo and Rafa Zevallos of PIB Productions organized the March 6-12 event, which was limited to 100 participants due to the size of the island. As usual, the boogie was full to capacity, and the 100 guests enjoyed daily freefly, formation skydiving and wingsuit jumps from a Twin Otter provided by Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, and nightly activities such as barbecues and happy hours. The Otter served as the boogie’s alarm clock, taking off for daily sunrise loads at 6 a.m. Wingsuit flyers particularly enjoyed “island hopping,” exiting over nearby Pacheca Island and flying 2.5 miles back to Contadora. The organizers also arranged for helicopter jumps, which proved very popular with the boogie crowd. Even the non-jumping companions of skydivers enjoyed the boogie; in the middle of the snowy season up north, who wouldn’t enjoy some fun in the sun?

PIB Productions will hold the event again next year beginning March 26 at the same location. Registration is once again limited to 100 participants and opens on September 1. More information is available at pepesislandboogie.com.
Toby Shacalo | D-37181
Miami, Florida