Indré Rockefeller’s Travel Diary From Islas Secas, Panama—A Remote Archipelago That “Feels Like a Hidden Treasure”

“The whole archipelago feels like a hidden treasure,” Indré Rockefeller says of her recent trip to Islas Secas, a remote group of 14 islands off the Pacific coast of Panama. Only one of them is inhabited, while the other 13 are preserved wildlife sanctuaries.

Such a vacation destination was ideal for Rockefeller, an environmentalist who is the founder of The Circularity Project, a nonprofit that empowers designers to use materials that last longer and use fewer resources—reducing the eco-footprint of the fashion industry in the process. The resort on Islas Secas is off-the-grid and fully sustainable, relying on solar power and recycling 100% of its food waste and wastewater. It also supports the Islas Secas Foundation, which funds marine and avian conservation. “You’re in the middle of nature and it’s very clear the experience is about nature—appreciating it, exploring it, and protecting it,” she says.

Rockefeller, along with her husband Justin—as well as Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon and his husband Paul Arnhold—spent their days exploring the archipelago via dive boat. (Binoculars and Panama hats were a must.) They all developed a surprise fixation with bird watching—but it wasn’t because of their beauty: “Beny Wilson, the conservation manager of Islas Secas and a leading bird expert in North America, completely captivated us with his tales of the unfolding drama among the local bird colonies,” she says. (They’d discuss freshly caught ceviche and sugarcane juice freshly squeezed from the orchard.)

At night, the group would return to the resort for an elevated dinner in the tropics. Rockefeller, who is also the co-founder of sustainable luggage company Paravel, wore colorful matching sets throughout as a fashionable and functional choice: “It fits into a packing philosophy I’m trying out: committing to sets to simplify packing.”

Below, see Indre Rockefeller’s Panama travel diary. “There are no lights, no boats, no developments—just raw, wild, nature,” she says.