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| Image by Ty Sawyer |
Getaways
One-Way Ticket: Eight Dive Destinations to go Expat
We've all dreamed the dream — find a piece of tropical paradise, buy a house, then escape into a life of gentlemanly leisure and poetic ease. But if you poll 10 divers, they'd all have a slightly different version of that dream. To be sure, great diving, close at hand, is a major part of the equation. Probably a few palm trees, sun and sand, too. But do you want total escape or something more cosmopolitan? Language and ease of ownership have to be factored into the decision. Are you going to live in your dream escape permanently or skip away as much as possible? If you're anything like us here at Sport Diver, you probably find something you like about every place you go. So, to help you narrow down the possibilites, we selected a few of our favorite places to go expat from around the globe.
Fiji
The final stop
I'm playing darts at the Yacht Club in Savusavu, Fiji. It's filled with expats from around the globe. Around me are ex-doctors, ex-bankers, ex-wanderers, a plumber, my divemaster and a bunch of other escape artists who have found their bliss on this South Pacific isle. They have great stories, all with one familiar narrative thread — after traveling the world, Fiji stopped their feet or stilled their sails long enough to put down roots. I've never met as happy a bunch of souls in all my travels. And why shouldn't they be? As I explore the less populated of Fiji's two main islands, Vanua Levu, I meet probably the friendliest people on Earth, a culture that cherishes its family-centric roots. It's a natural wonderland that captivates at every turn — especially at every fin kick.
When I ask about living in Fiji, I'm told one thing matters: freehold property. Most of Fiji's property remains owned by local villages, and that property is leasehold. With freehold, you own it. You can pass it down to family, generation after generation. And, yes, they tell me, "Even Americans can own property here." I come to learn that only about 7 to 9 percent of all of Fiji's land is freehold, but on an island nation as large as Fiji (an archipelago of 330 islands), that's still plenty.
On my way back to the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort where I'm staying, my head spins with the possibility of a life of Gilligan in a tropical Pacific garden. When I head out on the dive boat the next morning, my imagination settles upon every inch of coastline, every small isle, open patches in the rainforest, everything that looks like it might make a dream homesite.
The clincher comes, though, after the giant stride. We've traveled to Namena Island — Namenalala in the local vernacular — about 40 minutes from Savusavu. This private 110-acre island sits in the middle of a 30-mile-long coral barrier reef ring filled with some of Fiji's most pristine dive areas.
We descend through a huge aggregation of swirling barracuda onto Grand Central Station. The site's name must not have come with difficulty. Rush hour pervades the water column and the reefscape. A parade of pelagics — trevally, jacks, dogtooth tuna — fill the area with movement. We spy a large zebra shark napping on the sand under a bright-red, 10-foot sea fan. But our eyes stay mostly in the blue over the drop-off. Gray reefs, a big, king-of-the-world hammerhead and whitetip reef sharks constantly patrol as we dive. Even a lone manta swims by.
Our second dive, Chimneys, a trio of coral bommies makes Grand Central Station seem like the sleepy side of town. Here, the colorful compete with the weird, wild and wacky. Soft corals — small thickets of red, yellow, orange and purple — hide medieval-looking blue ribbon eels, banded pipefish, fat groupers and some of the 1,000 resident invertebrates. Gray and whitetip reef sharks meander throughout. I could stay all day atop the bommies immersed in the clouds of purple anthias, which look like leaves caught in a perpetual wind, and carpets of anemones and their resident namesake fish. And this is just the tip of the Namena adventure wand.
Although the week brings piles of great diving and adventures, my search for a perfect paradise is settled during the first two overwhelming hours spent underwater. During my last night at the Yacht Club, everyone gives advice. For them it boils down to a statement made by a Brit expat named Trevor, who sailed in and stayed. "Mate," he says, "it's about life, then, init? A good, simple, remarkable, 'appy and fulfilling life. Just gotta 'ave your priorities on straight then. Right?"
The words brought a round of cheers. And in that moment, I realize that life could be lived in a tropical dream of blue and green, of sand and breeze, of peace and poetic ease. And that such places exist in the world. — Ty Sawyer
Quick Guide
Decide which part of Fiji you want to travel to, then visit padi.com to find the closest PADI Dive Center (several dozen are scattered throughout Fiji). If Savusavu is it, check out jean-michel cousteau fiji islands resort (fijiresort.com). Find more information through fiji's official tourism site (bulafiji.com). Learn about residency, citizenship by investment and business opportunities by visiting fiji islands real estate (fijiislandsrealestate.com). Expat information can be found at escapeartist.com.
Maui
A state of bliss
We all have deliriously happy friends. Friends who have found their formula for life and enjoy a state of bliss. Well, for my friend David Fleetham and his wife Denise, it all began (after meeting each other, of course) with a move to Maui. They eventually wound up with a home in the "upcountry" near the Makawao, a quiet village where you wouldn't be surprised if someone rode up on horseback for their morning coffee. And for David, a professional underwater photographer, each day eventually leads to the sea — even if it's not for an assignment.
Now we all have our key points, our ideal list of why we'd want to make a move like this. And although Maui might not exactly be going pure expat, it sits atop the world's list as an ultimate tropical paradise — especially for divers. Between Molokini, the dives off Lahaina and the nearby island of Lanai, there is a lifetime of underwater discoveries. And between November and March, humpback whales settle in just offshore to calve and mate. During that time, the ocean fills with their soul-haunting song. For most of us, the possibility of an encounter with a whale mother and calf sits firmly in the category of dying and going to heaven. You'll also find sharks, sea turtles, manta rays and a host of tropical critters found only in these waters. David has been searching and exploring these reefs for almost 20 years and still has trouble pulling himself out at the end of a dive. But when he does, he goes home.
When I talk to David about Maui he always tells me, "Maui no ka oi": Maui is the best. And though David's work takes him around the world, the assignments he cherishes are those in his own backyard, because he always finds a new experience — one more reason to be deliriously happy. — TS
Quick Guide
For diving, lodging and land tours, check out PADI Five-Star Resort, maui dive shop (mauidiveshop.com) in Kihei. Also in Kihei, longtime Maui dive experts at scuba shack (scubashack.com) can help you experience just about anything underwater. For a PADI Gold Palm Facility in Lahaina Town, stop by lahaina divers (lahainadivers.com), or maui scuba diving (mauiscubadiving.com)which offers full PADI certifications. Hawaiian rafting adventures/dive maui (hawaiianrafting.com) visits the protected side of Lanai, which has more than 30 dive sites. Find more information through maui's official tourism site (visitmaui.com). Learn about real estate by visiting mauirealestate.com.
St. Kitts
The life authentic
I'm standing on the "far side" northern coast of St. Kitts, between the towns of Dieppe Bay and St. Paul's. Fields of untended sugar-cane sweep across the horizon, pockmarked by abandoned sugar plantations, their mills and outbuildings now all quiet. Across the water, I can see the profile of neighboring Statia. There's not another soul in sight. Just me, the lovely view and the inviting Caribbean breeze. I've wandered out to this coast to dream; to wonder how it would feel to awaken each day to this view.
St. Kitts sits at the edge of the diver's world. Sugar cane once ruled the economy and the daily flow of life on this island, so if you have arrived in St. Kitts with a mask and fins, you've found it by reputation or accident. A couple of years ago, the government underwent a seismic shift and devoted the entire economy to tourism. The sugar cane was left to its own devices, and only the wind and sun moved through the fields. I feel like I've found my own secret corner of the world, uncrowded and intact. Of all the places I know, this is the one island to think seriously about investing in property and going expat. Ownership is fairly easy and the possibility of finding an authentic island paradise with untrammeled diving has become a rare commodity this close to the United States.
And while sugar cane oiled the machinery of St. Kitts, under the water the ocean realm grew and changed and evolved and waited.
For the past three days, I've explored the MV River Taw, an ex-interisland cargo ship sunk in 1981 that has become a haven for lobster, morays, turtles and octopuses; Monkey Shoals, one of the Caribbean's most pristine reef areas; and the MV Talata. All of St. Kitts' dive sites see relatively few divers. About an hour earlier, I'd squeezed into a sunken van near the Talata with a 4-foot barracuda. It didn't move, I didn't move. Afterward, I followed a chain that led to the Talata. Snapper, eels and squirrelfish rule the shadows of the wreck. There was just me and one other diver. I like St. Kitts, I keep telling myself. I'm both surprised and delighted to feel like I've stumbled upon one of the Caribbean's last untrammeled dive experiences.
The people of St. Kitts have done everything to make me feel welcome, too. Everywhere I go, I'm taken on an impromptu mini-tour of an interesting and cool corner of the island. But mostly, I simply feel instantly welcome because this is an island of homes and families. St. Kitts, despite the new quest for tourism, has steadfastly held onto its core. And, as I stand on the far edge of the island, looking out over the sea, I begin to believe in St. Kitts and that the sweetest of all dreams could come to life — and that a field of sugar cane, the warm Caribbean and an island in the sun could become the view from my home. — TS
Quick Guide
For both diving and land tours, stop by PADI Resort pro divers (prodiversstkitts.com), based conveniently near the Ocean Terrace Inn at Fisherman's Wharf in Basseterre. On the property of the Bird Rock Beach Hotel, you'll find PADI Resort dive st. kitts (divestkitts.com). Both shops visit all of St. Kitts' top reefs and wrecks, all within a 30-minute ride; courses are also available. For an all-inclusive stay, check out the 18-acre royal st. kitts hotel & casino and kenneth's dive center (royalstkittshotel.com). Find more information through st. kitts' official tourism site (stkittstourism.kn). Learn about residency, citizenship by investment and business opportunities by visiting St. Kitts Real Estate (stkittsrealestate.net or stkittsrealty.com). Expatriate information can be found at escapeartist.com.
Panama
Cultural Crossroad
Panama is the wild west of diving in the Americas — a place where a sense of adventure thrives, and divers explore the brink of an untamed frontier. Come up for air and find much of the same raw character in endless tropical rainforests, on scores of palm-fringed islands laced by reefs, and in remote territories where local peoples like the Bribri and Kuna live as they have for centuries.
But there's quirky contrast, too. Just a four-hour flight separates this Central American nation from Houston. Upon arriving, the ties to the States seem many: a modern central infrastructure thanks to Uncle Sam's canal, dead U.S. presidents on the official currency and a wealth of emigrant investors. And for expat hopefuls wanting to quickly assimilate, Panama provides a cultural crossroad where nationalities easily mix and an emerging hub for Americans looking to stretch retirement dollars or to invest in tourism trade — and realize a dream.
Jim Kimball has made good on such a dream. After cashing out of his petrochemical career in Houston, he and his wife teamed with a business partner to scout the Caribbean in search of a remote location on which to build an eco-lodge.
"We liked the Caribbean because we didn't want to go halfway around the world," he says.
After a deal fell through in Belize in 1998, the Kimball clan pushed south. The next year they arrived in Panama and felt they'd stumbled upon paradise.
"Bocas del Toro [a Panamanian province] was pretty raw then, but it had an airstrip and flights to Panama City. The diving and fishing potential is quite literally off the charts," he explains.
With the surrounding 28,600 marine acres of Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park dedicated as a marine habitat, Kimball knew the area would stay relatively undeveloped, its reefs pristine.
"So much of the marine park has never even been explored under the surface, and many dive sites are unnamed," he says.
After five years of struggle — from finding decent workers and sourcing construction materials to installing a $10,000 generator and building a 150-foot-tall Wi-Fi antenna — his Tranquilo Bay eco-lodge opened on a private island several miles south of town.
"I didn't pay bribes; I demanded inspectors follow the rules and got a good attorney who knows the law," Kimball recounts.
Now, Tranquilo Bay sees divers and adventurers weekly. Kimball's family has grown to include two children — who have yet to discover the joys of TV, much less cable. No traffic, no war coverage. Nothing but an idyllic life on a Panamanian island.
"It's all very liberating and frees up your mind, like stepping back in time," he says. "I can't imagine a better life." — Ted Alan Stedman
Quick Guide
On a private island in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, tranquilo bay (tranquilobay.com) eco-lodge provides guests diving at exclusive "no other divers in sight" locations within three to 15 miles. Bocas water sports (bocaswater sports.com) visits shallow and mid-depth sites that include walls, coral caves and wrecks within a 30-minute ride. Find more information through ipat, Panama's official tourism site (visitpanama.com).Learn about residency and business opportunities by visiting business panama (businesspanama.com). Expatriate information can be found at escapeartist.com. A good, blog-style source on all-things Panama is thepanamareport.com.
Mexico
Lessons in relaxation
FM3. That's the name of the Mexican visa needed by foreigners spending more than three months in the country. If you haven't heard of it, chances are you will. Mexico has seen the highest number of immigrants from the United States — more than 1 million in the past decade. And the numbers aren't slowing.
The steadiest stream comes from the retirement sector. But there's also a southern migration from younger upstarts enticed by the spicy Mexican culture, the bang-for-buck value and the relaxed (and sometimes maddening) mañana vibe that favors the pursuit of pleasure over work.
And of course, there's diving. Count hundreds of miles of coastline, the world's second-largest reef snaking along the Yucatán Peninsula and nearly endless possibilities for enterprising expats who want to get wet.
That's the mindset of Marco Martin, a quasi-expat (currently living one week each month in Mexico) from the States who owns and operates his Dreamtime Dive Resort in Mahahual. The once-sleepy fishing village four hours south of Cancún is now the focus of the Mexican government's most recent major master-planned development along the Caribbean Coast (aka: Costa Maya). With a serious spanking by last year's Hurricane Dean, there's as much rebuilding as new building these days, and yes, Dreamtime also took a hit. But Martin is in for the long haul.
"I visited the brand-new Mahahual port in 2004, and was blown away by the unspoiled, undiscovered tour and diving destinations. It was clear to me areas like this are hard to find. And, I was ready for a career change," he recalls. Job one: Bail on his corporate career in the United States and funnel money into the area's sole dive-shop outpost. Some heavy lifting was already in place; Martin bought an existing dive center, spruced it up, purchased boats, hired a new staff of 40 and set out to provide a dive center focused on marine ecology (his shop uses wind and solar power). From the outset, the corporate-savvy Martin found it wasn't business as usual.
"I'm a businessman, but I did earn a second degree in what I'll call 'Mexican Business,'" he half-jokingly recounts. "The challenges here are significant, not as structured. My biggest difficulty was setting up the legalities of a Mexican operation."
Since turning on his compressors in 2005, Martin says his business has grown 800 percent — basically from zero to a consistent stream of divers who bring in enough cash for Martin to make payroll and continue to grow the business.
It's been nearly a year since the hurricane setback, and Martin says Dreamtime and the town of Mahahual should be 100 percent by July 2008.
"We're excited about the upcoming season, about taking divers to virgin sites with huge bucket coral [barrel sponges], swim-throughs, pelagics — and where you're the only one in the water for 150 miles. It's raw and authentic, and that's what adventure diving is all about." — TAS
Quick Guide
On the Yucatán's Costa Maya, dreamtime dive resort (dreamtimediving.com) in Mahahual offers Caribbean diving at nearby reefs and the remote Chinchorro Banks aboard custom 26-foot Tahoma boats that carry up to 12 divers. yucatek divers (yucatek-divers.com) in Playa del Carmen offers ocean dives to Caribbean wrecks and reef wall sites, along with excursions to inland freshwater cenotes where dive routes are bathed in sunlight. On the Sea of Cortez, dolphin diver center (dolphindivebaja.com) uses 25-foot panga-style boats to ferry divers to 15 sites off Coronado Island, and solmar v, a 112-foot luxury live-aboard, offers excursions out of Cabo San Lucas accommodating up to 22 divers (solmarv.com). Find travel and cultural information at visitmexico.com, the country's official tourism site. mexperience.com spells out living and working in the country. transitionsabroad.com has an excellent Mexico expat forum.
Guanaja
The secret haven
If you don't know where Guanaja is, take this article and walk to a globe. Look for the Central American country of Honduras, then move your finger up a bit to the Bay Islands. You'll probably recognize Roatán — a diver haven since the 1960s, and nearby Utila, famous for its low-key vibe and whale sharks. Find Guanaja at the far-eastern edge of the Bay Islands. It feels more like a South Pacific island than a Caribbean secret. It's surrounded by a barrier reef of coral, dotted with little islands called "cays." The main island shoots straight up into the sky from a blue lagoon. It's high, lush and green, and almost nobody lives on it — those who do choose the small city island called Bonacca Town. This island awaits discovery, and you could be one of the first to join the savvy expats who have already found Guanaja (only a handful to be sure).
And most importantly for divers, you'll be right at the doorstep of the same kind of diving that has made nearby Roatán famous, and you'll most likely have it all to yourself. There's a great variety off Guanaja, too. You'll find one of the Caribbean's best, but little-written-about, wrecks like the Jado Trader. There are walls and pinnacles and coral gardens, all of which have been little affected by dive traffic, and they are only about a 5- to 15-minute boat ride away.
Owner of Clarks Cay, expat Bill Pullum from Navarre, Fla., has taken this island under his philanthropic wing. He flies down doctors, plumbers, craftsmen and teachers to help build the human infrastructure of this island gem, and also to give the island's population complete self-sufficiency. He's building some of the first homes that will be available on what will surely become a true haven in the Caribbean for divers looking to embrace the dream. — TS
Quick Guide
For diving, accommodations and land tours, stay at coral bay dive resort (coralbay.ca). clark cay is a four-acre private island dive resort (clarkcay.com). For full-on diving, accommodations and real-estate experiences, stay at nautilus hotel and dive resort (guanajaproperties.com). Expat information can be found at escapeartist.com.
Grand Cayman
The luxe life
Grand Cayman has breathed life into the "If you build it, they will come" motto. (And why not, with the Cayman Islands' open-door policy allowing foreign investors to own up to two properties anywhere on any of the three islands?) Grand Cayman was built on diving and has some of the world's most famous dives just off its shoreline: Stingray City, Tarpon Alley, Snapper Hole and Trinity Caves, among others. There's hardly an easier place to dive. The water's always clear, warm and virtually current-free. Almost all visitors have felt the urge to buy a place and stay. Especially those who prefer that little touch of luxury. Grand Cayman has erupted recently with high-end condos that overlook the renowned Seven Mile Beach; and homes rife with all the conveniences of modern life, and the ease-of-life views and tranquil vibe sprout up all along the shore from the East End to George Town. You'll find a little bit of everything here, from the familiar (Pizza Hut) to the exotic (Boatswain's Beach and the Grand Cayman Turtle Farm), but you'll never be far from the quiet hush of Caribbean idyll that brought you here in the first place. — TS
Quick Guide
For all things scuba diving on Cayman, visit dive cayman (divecayman.ky). Some of our favorite PADI Resorts on Cayman are sunset house (sunsethouse.com), dive-tech (divetech.com), ocean frontiers (oceanfrontiers.com), diver's down (diversdown.net), don fosters (donfosters.com) and red sail sports (redsailsports.com). Find more information through grand cayman's official tourism site (caymanislands.ky). Learn about Cayman's extensive real-estate offerings by typing "Cayman Real Estate" into any search engine. Expat information can be found at escapeartist.com.
Turks and Caicos
Sounds so sweet
You dive. And you seek a storied place in the sun — as an expat. The plan? Make it painless. South Pacific? Too far, too remote. Central America? Possible linguistic, attendant political and business challenges. Australia? Maybe too much like home. Then you remember a dive trip from years back: Turks and Caicos — aka TCI — a British Overseas Territory with a siren song for expats-in-waiting.
Consider viz bordering the limitless realm, 80-degree average water temps, a 7,000-foot trench with some of the best wall diving anywhere, a crazy abundance of upwelling marine life year round and a compact collection of friendly islands with enough topside mojo to keep life interesting. And it's all within a couple hours of the States. Oh, and then there's the matter of taxes — as in no property, no capital gains, no inheritance and no income taxes.
www.sportdiver.com/turksandcaicos
It's a little like the cautionary cliché, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Maybe. But in the case of Mitch Rolling, a former Iowan who came to TCI on a lark in 1980 to become a musician, life has indeed been sweet.
"My original plan was to write and play songs, learn how to be a rock star, then leave. It was super affordable back then, and I could just focus on playing," recalls Rolling.
By 1983, and without a Top-10 hit, he turned to diving to make ends meet and eventually became a divemaster at Blue Water Divers — "a seemingly innocent decision that had major implications."
After 10 years, Rolling bought out the owners, renovated, replaced and reworked virtually everything in the dive shop's arsenal.
"I got tired of holding things together with duct tape. But I learned as I went — compressors, boat engines, marketing to hotels, hiring good people — it was all a major learning curve."
In 1994, Rolling obtained his Permanent Residence Certificate and settled into his ideal lifestyle of diving and playing music with his band, High Tide.
"TCI is all about friendships — it goes hand in hand with living down here. It's funky with its tapestry of cultures, European customers and Americans."
Words of wisdom? Rolling offers: "If diving is your passion, don't wait. If you think you have to wait for all the pieces to fall into place, it will never happen. Just do it." — TAS
Quick Guide
Blue water divers (grandturkscuba.com) on Grand Turk has three skiffs with 6-10 diver capacities that visit more than 25 moored sites, including wall dives one-quarter mile offshore. Providenciales' dive provo (diveprovo.com) visits sites all around the island and accommodates full-day trips to distant areas of Molasses Reef and West Sand Spit. From April-December, the 120-foot Turks and Caicos Aggressor II (aggressor.com) pampers 20 live-aboard guests with a week of diving along West Caicos and French Cay. Find general information through turksandcaicostourism.com. For more on residency, visit liveturksandcaicos.com and escapeartist.com.
