A New Beginning in Costa Rica
A New Beginning in Costa Rica
Our vision of adventures in Costa Rica began to flourish in Asia where we lived for many years, both in Hong Kong and Singapore. When the insurance company that Benn was managing, shut down its branch in Singapore and made everyone redundant including himself, we turned this situation as an opportunity to change our lives _ to live a less stressful life away from the corporate world; and to finally achieve our especially vivid dream of launching a business charter in a foreign country.
We travelled to different places to check where our small, young family can potentially live and open a fishing business. Costa Rica was among the countries in our list. The first one was Vanuatu, a small island in the Pacific Ocean close to Fiji and Australia. The second country in our list was a small coastal town of Watamu in Kenya which we visited a few times for sport fishing adventure. In the end, after writing all the advantages and disadvantages of all the countries we have in our list, and weighing all our options, we chose Costa Rica. Why Costa Rica? Because it is such a biodiverse place _ a country that believes in preserving its wildlife, rainforest and surrounding nature _ hence Costa Rica became close to our heart. This awe-inspiring country has so many resplendent places to explore and tons of activities to do for all types of travelers. Great for families too _ and our kids will eventually immerse in Spanish culture.
Costa Rica engages in continuing development of tourism to encourage the influx of tourists in the country; and we enthusiastically look forward to welcome most of the American and Canadian visitors plus the rest of the world as our fishing clients.
Transition to a new country is always the hardest part in anyone’s journey. There are innumerable things to do and consider when moving to a new residence. We literally spend hours researching and going to forums, watching videos to know more about the country; and since we wanted to do the right thing in Costa Rica in terms of living and opening a business here, we also consulted quite a few lawyers from Singapore to seek their opinions and get our papers ready before we flew to Costa Rica.
In year 2009 we had been on a backpacking trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We absolutely enjoyed traveling around Costa Rica; and visited the popular tourist spots around Quepos, Manuel Antonio, Monteverde, La Fortuna, and Arenal. It was a great journey _ and little did we know then that we would one day, decide to live here.
Leaving the Corporate World was extremely challenging because of the enormous mental preparations we had to deal with in terms of giving up our financial freedom; and leaving our great expat lifestyle with the comfortable and safe environment of Singapore. We also had to sell everything we owned in our apartments; and put everything we think we might need in Costa Rica in a container box to be shipped then to the other side of the world. Our boxes in the shipping container arrived in Costa Rica after 3 months. We were absolutely happy that we had chosen a very reliable shipping company from Singapore. Everything in our belongings was all in there and nothing was damaged at all.
When we arrived in Costa Rica way back in 2015, we absolutely had no idea what to expect even though we had travelled here before. Our first proper house was situated in a gated community in the coastal town of Herradura just an hour away from the capital city of San Jose; and around 2 ½ to 3-hour drive from the country’s international airport. Herradura is a small town, just 5 minutes from the most popular beach town called Jaco located in the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Jaco is famed for its nightlife, with restaurants, bars and casinos all lined up the street of this small beach town. It is a developing town with a large number of condominiums and hotels being available all the time. This place is also much modern compared to its neighboring beach towns in the Pacific Coast. It’s a great place to visit, go shopping and enjoy the beach vibes and some live music at night. Herradura is great place to be based in especially for anyone starting out in Costa Rica. There are a number of condos and houses that anyone can rent around; and it’s a perfect place for families. There's also a huge supermarket called Auto Mercato that sells imported items; as well as a local supermarket called MAXI PALI that sells fresh local produce. So you get both of best worlds ... and if you are a budget traveler, the local supermarket is the best place to go in Costa Rica. Herradura is also minutes away from the famous Los Sueños Marina that houses private boats, yachts and fishing charters. Los Sueños also has great condominiums, golf course, and Marriott Hotel all in one place. Definitely a beautiful place but I’d say, if you are looking for the real and authentic Costa Rica, this place is unquestionably not it; though it’s worth every visit and we absolutely love going back again and again to Los Sueños for drinks and sunset viewing while watching the world go by. We ended up living in Herradura for 3 months whilst we sorted out paperwork and legality of owning a boat and opening a fishing business charter in Costa Rica. We also explored the different beaches around the Pacific Coast; visited and even spent time in some parts of Costa Rica and drove all the way from Herradura to the Caribbean side. After 3 whole months, we then became the proud owners of the 31’ GOOD DAY boat based in the Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, as we had moved out from Herradura to Quepos.
Quepos is a small town in the province of Puntarenas, only an hour away from Jaco and 2 ½ hours away from the capital city of San Jose. It’s a small laid-back town with a trendy Marina right in the centre where our boat GOOD DAY is presently based. Quepos has a free and easy lifestyle with a great many local shopping areas, restaurants, and a weekly farmer’s market. It’s also a community to expats. The town has a bus station (Terminal de Buses de Quepos) which is a great hub for tourists traveling by bus from Quepos, Puntarenas to other parts of Costa Rica. Quepos is also a passing town to the most visited Manuel Antonio white sand beaches; and is known as a gateway to Manuel Antonio National Park which is only 7-10 minutes’ drive away.
Costa Rica has now become our permanent home for the last 9 years. Our business charter operation formally began in March 2016 and we couldn’t be much happier living in the tropics. We are also blessed with our second child Oliver, born in Costa Rica in June 2018. Hence we have become permanent residents of this astounding country since then.