Where to retire?

[JamesBon92007]

Why? I want to live in a place that I truly like. I hate the suburbs of Southern California and I despise the popular culture here. The state turned some of the best beach dive spots into state parks and now charge excessive fees just to go take a look at the conditions and in some cases added about a 1/2 walk to what was already an arduous venture. I want to live in a place without excessive taxes and a lower cost of living. I don't want to have to work three jobs just to get a little ahead.

As for diving, I want to try to find a place where I can walk out my door in the morning and go straight into some decent diving. This is not even a consideration where I live--it would cost millions. Hawai'i may not be a foreign country but I have seen listings for places right on the water that were at least a possibility. On Maui I never had to pay to park at the beach and no fishing license is required. Even if I don't end up right on the water I want to live where there is good beach diving that is readily accessible. Occasionally I will want to hop on a dive boat and hopefully can avoid tourist rip-off prices. If the cost of living is low enough I plan on getting on a plane every few months or so and visiting many of the great dive spots in the world. I want to look at other stuff too

I have two daughters and five grandkids (so far) so a couple of trips a year will be necessary to stay in touch with them. And, of course, they might be compelled to force themselves to go visit grandma and grandpa in some fabulous tropical paradise where they won't have to pay for a hotel or car rental etc.

I have read about retiring in Costa Rica, Belize, and a little about Bonaire. I intend to visit all of these places in the near future and take a look. Puerto Rico is unstable right now but it might be possible to steal a fabulous property but gas, electricity, water, and other desirables could be in short supply. Right now I'm wide open to suggestions.

 

[drrich2]

Interesting. It'd be useful to dig a little deeper into your dislikes, as you don't want to find them where you move.

1.) What do you hate about the suburbs of California? Small yards? Arid climate? High cost of homes? I'm guessing; never been there as yet.

2.) What do you despise about the popular culture? Politics, religion, what? I'm not trying to start a flame war between people who love California & people who don't. But if you're running from something, it's worthwhile to make sure you don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

If you want the option for spontaneous 'morning of' diving, then a destination with shore diving has a lot to offer. Evidently it can't be in California, either. I'd consider St. Croix (north portion of island, unless you want to dive Frederiksted Pier a lot) or Curacao.

I'd lean against Bonaire. I love Bonaire for dive vacations; most of my dives were there, 8 1-week trips. Before we had a toddler, even considered it as a 'maybe someday.' My concerns:

1.) Bright sunny hot summertime all year might get a little old, especially coupled with arid climate & no natural permanent freshwater bodies. To the south, it's flat with scrubby vegetation. To the north, hilly with thick bush of very, very thorny plants.

2.) Fairly small place. No shopping malls (which I don't visit a lot anyway).

3.) Airfare is expensive to & from, to U.S.

If you want to research a move to Bonaire, check out the BonaireTalk forum, in particular the section Moving To Bonaire.

Curacao would offer you some similar diving (I'm told; haven't dove there), sandy beaches, a larger island with more non-diving activities, and cheaper airfare to & from.

Bonaire is a wonderful place to visit (for a scuba diver), but I would not want to live there.

Richard.

 

[Insta-Gator]

We were in Curacao in December. The diving was great. Not much in the way of beach entry for shore diving. I prefer Curacao to Bonaire, but Bonaire has much better shore diving opportunities. Nothing on an island is cheap, but I suppose you already know that.

We will return to Curacao, but I don't think we could afford to live there.

 

[drrich2]

I little follow-up, since this thread might be referenced by others in the future.

I found an online site, Caribbean Journal, which has various resources, including discussing moving to Caribbean destinations. I just discovered it and don't know how credible it is. They've got an article on How To Move To St. Croix. It mentions a median home price, and what one with a water view is at least going to cost.

Richard.

P.S.: As previously mentioned, whether in this thread or elsewhere, food tends to be shipped to Curacao en route to Bonaire, so if anything, some prices in Bonaire are likely to be higher than Curacao.

P.S. #2: A thread, What Should I Expect When I Move To Bonaire?

 

[RJP]

Hawai'i may not be a foreign country but I have seen listings for places right on the water that were at least a possibility.

Are you looking for a single family home or a condo/townhouse?

If the former, and you've seen waterfront places in Hawaii that are "at least a possibility" then I'm guessing your budget allows for pretty much anything in the world. Last time we were in Maui we looked only semi-seriously and couldn't find anything on the water south of $4MM that I'd consider retiring to.

Add to that the fact that everything else there is silly expensive...

 

[RJP]

Everyone talks about how expensive it is to live in Hawai'i but when I was there a few years ago (Maui) everything diving-related was cheaper than in Southern California.

Diving there on vacation and living there full-time are two very different things.

Consider that a "Value Meal" at a McDonalds in Hawaii is somewhere around $11.

 

[JamesBon92007]

At least they let you go into the jungle and pick wild fruit and catch a fish for dinner

Yes, I found food to be rather expensive there but I also found a cafe that served a great lunch on a plate, served by a waiter, for about the same price as a burger and fries at Carl's Jr. On Maui I did much of my grocery shopping at WalMart.

My situation has changed but I was looking at several small, unique habitats on the Big Island for under $40K. You can buy an 8500 sq/ft parcel for $5000 or less if you don't mind a little lava once-in-a-while I saw a listing for a house South of Kona for $135K that was two houses away from the water. Some of the houses in the same area were listed for around $400K and they were right on the water's edge. Granted, it was not a beach, but solid lava so it might be necessary to install a ladder or something for exiting the water, but still very appealing to me. Currently there are two listings for oceanfront homes in South Kona (Hawaiian Beaches) for $475K and $525K. Not cheap, but not beyond being a possibility (with a few sacrifices, of course).

Another advantage that Hawai'i offers is the possibility to work. I figure that if I hand out at the dive shop enough sooner or later I might end up with a position on a dive boat Some foreign countries that I have read about do not allow expats to get jobs. You can own a business (including rentals) but unless you possess a specialized skill that cannot be filled by a citizen you pretty much have to become a citizen.

I have not, by any means, settled on any particular place. My girlfriend found two round-trip tickets to Bonaire from LAX for $300 each (last two seats on the plane) so I might be going there sooner than I expected I need to ask her if she actually purchased the tickets.

 

[JamesBon92007]

1.) What do you hate about the suburbs of California? Small yards? Arid climate? High cost of homes? I'm guessing; never been there as yet.

Well, it was overcrowded when I was five years old and there's about eight times as many people here now. Mainly I hate the parties, the boom-boom cars, the idiots going 60 mph on residential streets, the drug deals, the drug users, the traffic noise, the trains....

2.) What do you despise about the popular culture? Politics, religion, what? I'm not trying to start a flame war between people who love California & people who don't. But if you're running from something, it's worthwhile to make sure you don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Of course that will be what I hope to discover while visiting all of the other places. For starters, I hate rock and roll. In Southern California you are required to like it. They blast it at the grocery stores, drug stores, banks, dentists, pretty much everywhere. I don't eat fast food, I don't watch TV, I hate radios and commercials, tattoos, and drugs. I have no use for shopping malls. As for the politics in California I don't see why they don't just take all of our money and revert to complete communism. It would be simpler.

If you want the option for spontaneous 'morning of' diving, then a destination with shore diving has a lot to offer. Evidently it can't be in California, either. I'd consider St. Croix (north portion of island, unless you want to dive Frederiksted Pier a lot) or Curacao.

Curacao was added to my list yesterday

I'd lean against Bonaire. I love Bonaire for dive vacations; most of my dives were there, 8 1-week trips. Before we had a toddler, even considered it as a 'maybe someday.' My concerns:

1.) Bright sunny hot summertime all year might get a little old, especially coupled with arid climate & no natural permanent freshwater bodies. To the south, it's flat with scrubby vegetation. To the north, hilly with thick bush of very, very thorny plants.

2.) Fairly small place. No shopping malls (which I don't visit a lot anyway).

3.) Airfare is expensive to & from, to U.S.

That is a definite consideration for me too. My girlfriend has about 1/2 million airline miles but only where SouthWest flies. They don't go to Bonaire or Curacao yet.

If you want to research a move to Bonaire, check out the BonaireTalk forum, in particular the section Moving To Bonaire.

Curacao would offer you some similar diving (I'm told; haven't dove there), sandy beaches, a larger island with more non-diving activities, and cheaper airfare to & from.

Bonaire is a wonderful place to visit (for a scuba diver), but I would not want to live there.

From everything I have heard I at least want to visit Bonaire. Funny thing though--I met two people from Bonaire on Cozumel last month. They were taking diving vacations so I guess Bonaire doesn't have everything.

Richard.

 

[JamesBon92007]

It didn't include your God question. I don't question why God is keeping me around but I'm glad he/she is and I"m truly grateful, If I was dead I probably wouldn't get to go scuba diving any more.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I was looking at condos for sale in and near Kona last year and some could be had for $5000 or less. The trouble was they were all leasehold and came with a hefty $800 or more maintenance fee in addition to the lease fees. I researched the transactions on one building and during a two-year time span every single unit had been bought and sold, some more than once. I missed out on the free condos

I'm planning on renting wherever I end up before I consider buying. I noticed that in Costa Rica the rents are generally around $2000/mo if you search in English, but closer to $500-$600 if you search in Spanish I can imagine myself living near a quiet little pueblo, going to the market each week and paying $1.50/lb for swordfish or shrimp instead of $10/lb My girlfriend found a 2900 sq/ft condo at a luxurious resort on the Pacific side for some ridiculously-cheap price ($40K, perhaps). It was right on the beach. Unfortunately it's the most popular (i.e, crowded) beach in CR and way too much boat traffic to make diving there realistic. In any case, I'll know more once I get there. Most of the diving seems to be on the Pacific side but so far I don't know why. Finding a dive boat with Mexico-type pricing might be a challenge. So far they seem to be the most expensive dive boats I've found (online). Perhaps if I search in Spanish....