生活是片沙滩--海边沙滩生活（中）Life is a Beach -- Living by the Seaside (Part 2)

Boats, sunsets, and laughing waves. This is beach living. We have no typical day here. We never know when we're going to be working or playing or making our work our play. Think you can only spend a week here? Think again. Today we're checking out the world's most peaceful island where the closest continent is 5,000 miles away. Beach is just across the street. In fact, at night we hear the waves breaking on the reefs. Plus, we're headed down to a remote surf retreat on the coast of Nicaragua. I traveled all over the world, but when I came here, it was like, this is the spot. Then we're checking out a little oceanside town in Costa Rica with perfect surf, white sand, and endless summers. A lot of people, they say, oh, you have the perfect life. These dream locations will make you want to come back again and again and maybe never leave. Thousands of miles away from the nearest continent in the middle of the South Pacific is the most idyllic string of islands known as French Polynesia. 118 islands make up this archipelago, the most well-known being Tahiti. But just 11 miles off the coast of Tahiti is a secluded little island with thatched-roof hut lodging and seagreen lagoons. French Polynesia is about 5,400 miles from California in the South Pacific. We are in Morea, which is part of the Society Islands. Like its neighbor, Tahiti, Morea is a territory of France. Island life blends French language and customs with the 1,000-year-old native Polynesian culture. Here, the picturesque island peaks leading down to a glassy sea can take anyone's breath away. And the best part, it gets fewer tourists in a year than Hawaii gets in a day. That's why Morea is a top pick for vacationers who can find this secret hideaway. The beaches boast of chain hotels and delicious restaurants, so you get the five-star service of a tourist hotspot, but the island remains surprisingly tranquil. When travelers disembark in Morea, they can easily hole up in a private cabana and relax in quiet waters all to themselves for days. We have coconuts, and we have this amazing lagoon, and, yeah, it never gets cold, and, you know, it is paradise. For California native Laurel Samuela, a slower lifestyle was just what she needed. Back in California, I worked in advertising. The better I did, the more that was expected of me. I was working so hard that my best girlfriends did an intervention and said, you need to go on vacation now or you're gonna end up in the hospital with a heart attack. So I literally walked into the travel agent, burst into tears, and said, I need to go away. She said, okay, where? And I said, I don't care. I just need white sand and blue water. And she said, okay, Morea. And I said, okay, where is it? So I came to Morea, and I became obsessed with scuba diving. It's the big fish capital of the South Pacific. Blew my world open, and it was amazing. It was on a dive trip that Laurel looked up and saw her now husband, James, fell in love and decided beach life was her dream life. James and I bought this property together, have about four acres. Beach is just across the street. In fact, at night, we hear the waves breaking on the reefs. Living in paradise has some big financial perks. When you buy a home here, there's a 12% tax you have to pay on the purchase price. One time only, that's it, you're done. After 15 years as a full-time citizen of Morea, Laurel has built a big life. I have one husband, two children, three horses, three dogs, three cats. Luckily, we have no neighbors. I don't care if you don't want French toast. You're getting French toast today, babe, okay? I don't have time. I gotta go, and then I have a meeting. As her family grew, Laurel turned her passion for scuba diving into a thriving business. Okay, so listen, you need to look at the schedule because it's a really busy month. When I first came here, I realized that travel agents knew nothing about scuba diving, and there are a few dive travel agencies around the world, but they knew nothing about French Polynesia. So I started booking dive vacations for people coming here. That expanded to include honeymoons and luxury vacations. Laurel and her family now run one of the biggest tourism businesses on the island. I'm just really busy now juggling everything. Who's hungry? But I am not obsessed with work the way I was when I was in the States, and we just have a lot of fun. Raising a family in Morea is fantastic. So simple in so many ways. If they're not dancing, they're surfing, or they're skating, or they're wakeboarding. It's just a great life. Coming up, it's the only place in the world where you can see the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean and set on the Atlantic. But first, one of the more popular tourist attractions in Morea is to drive the entire island. So how much time does it take to circle it around the shore? The island of Morea has a circumference of 37 miles, so it only takes one hour to circle the entire coast by car. The jagged peaks against the blue sea seen from this drive are so stunning, it's no wonder why this picturesque island has earned the title from some as the most beautiful place on earth. The Pacific coast of Nicaragua is an outdoorsman's dream. This incredible shoreline surrounding the city of Chinandega caters to any adventure-loving enthusiast. From touring active volcanoes to hiking thick jungles and surfing massive waves, it's not only a vacation hotspot, it's a bucket list town for travelers. For less than $200 a night, you can stay in a private villa on the water and learn to surf for 20 bucks a lesson. We're here in northern Nicaragua. Nicaragua has these huge lakes. It's actually where the name Nicaragua comes from, the agua, water. This place is paradise for me because it's close to the U.S., statistically has the lowest crime rate of any country in Central America. Holly Beck and her husband, Kim, have been searching for this untouched land of perfect surf and sun all their lives. Oh, it smells so good. Muchas gracias. I grew up in Palos Verdes, California. I just wanted to be at the beach and now I'm doing something that I love. So after a visit to this Nicaraguan utopia, Holly and Kim said goodbye to their busy life in California and are now on constant wave watch at their very own surf retreat in remote Genendaga, Nicaragua. In the process of getting an MBA, of course, you have to write a business plan and I wrote a plan for a surf school and in the process of writing the plan, I was like, huh, this actually is a pretty good plan. Like, maybe I could do this. I traveled all over the world, but when I came here, it was like, this is the spot. It's affordable, development is just getting started and it's got unbelievable surf. I can't believe I get to surf this every day. It's amazing. One of the things about Nicaragua that makes the waves so good is the lake effect winds. It makes the predominant wind direction offshore. It makes the waves really smooth. We have great surfing conditions, 300 days of the year. Out of the water, Holly's surf camp goers try yoga and horseback riding. In the water, personal surf lessons. Go for your plank position. You want to have your feet evenly planted. Awesome. Not only do I get to do a job that I love to do, but I get to live in this paradise, you know, like steps from the ocean, barefoot every day. The thing Holly loves most about her beach life, the price tag. This half acre ocean front in Chinendaga cost her less than $20,000. The roof's really cool and it's the palm fronds from palm trees that are right down the beach. There's no nails used at all. They're all woven together. It's really cool to watch them do it. This is like my dream come true. I mean, to live on the beach and surf. And every member of her family is living the dream. We have a dog that loves to surf. I put him on the board and you push him in and he rides all the way in. He rides forwards, backwards. Sometimes his sister jumps on and like rides with him. He loves it. This is my fantasy as a little girl and it's so awesome to be able to live it now. Coming up, snorkeling, surfing, protected forests and beaches. We're headed to the country with more outdoor adventures than any other. But first, the ocean isn't the only place you can surf in Nicaragua. What other surfing adventure has tourists raving? What other sport in Nicaragua uses a surfboard? The answer, volcano boarding. The country has 19 volcanoes and a few of them are still active. So for just a few bucks, you can take the ride of your life down the ashy rock on a surfboard or slide down it on a sled. Experienced boarders say, bring some goggles. It can sure get dusty up there. Calm water, quiet beaches, unbelievable views. Welcome to the deep south of Costa Rica and a little town called Malpais. There's no better location for outdoor fun than right here. With 25% of the nation's forests and beaches protected, Costa Rica is the most bang for your buck if you're a tourist looking to escape to nature. In fact, here, there are more outdoor adventures per square mile than any other country on the planet. And to top it off, Malpais specifically is one of the top surf destinations in the world. From snorkeling through a volcanic reef to exploring monkeys in the wild jungle. This is much more than just your average beach bum vacation. The food is cheap, hotels are nice, and the fun is endless. I like Malpais because it is the end of the road. This area here, the Cabo Blanco rainforest can never be changed. It's always going to be a natural reserve. In California, everyone, you're concerned about what time it is, concerned about what day it is. And here, you sort of lose sense of all that. It's like going on vacation. I don't even know what day today is. I mean, what day is today? It's Wednesday. California native Kurt Smiley knows all about the beach life here. That's because he lives it every day. I was a plumbing contractor in Santa Cruz, California. And after 12 years, I realized I needed a way out. Came to Costa Rica and built a tree house. Kurt ditched his 9 to 5 to hang 10, traveling Costa Rica until he discovered his perfect wave in remote Malpais, an area known to locals as the Hawaii of Latin America. One of the neat things about this coastline is that it has rock jetties that stick out naturally. They collect sand. It sets up a great miracle mile of waves to come in. Let's just go down to the beach and see beautiful surf. There'd be 200 people in the water. But today, it's just me. For just $132,000, Kurt bought two acres of prime coastal jungle property. He immediately put his carpenter skills to work, creating the tropical home he'd always wanted. 13 years before I even got here, I'd been drawing pictures of tree houses to give myself something to dream about. And I found this tree, the strangler fig ficus. I realized that this was going to be a perfect place to build a tree house. I wanted to create something different, not like a typical cabin. By counterweighting the door with some rocks from the beach, I created a very simple way to enter your tree house. The door is your floor. So we like to say, close the floor behind you. This is around 400 square feet, including the deck outside. The floor structure was made out of pachote. It's a farmed wood here in Costa Rica. I chose it because the wood itself has a tannic acid, and the insects don't eat it. And it cost about $8,000 to build it. This amazing tree house in the proximity to the Great Sur. Just a completely different world. So much fun. Complete with a huge swing, Kurt's tropical tree house needed one more thing. A backyard beach-inspired pool and waterfall. Back in the States, it would have cost him more than 20 grand. But Kurt did all the work himself. It took about a year to build it. Being dug by hand, everything about it was different. There's no tile. He hand-selected all of these rocks and laid them out very carefully. And definitely a work of art from the beginning. Kurt starts every day with a solid workout. It feels good. But he doesn't need to hop on a machine to get his cardio. Kurt built his own gym in the jungle. And to cool down, he hits the waves in his own private surf cove. Plus a massive slip and slide right through the jungle. The actual slide is just a pond liner. It's a thick rubber. Came from a friend of mine that had all this leftover. About 80 feet long. 80 feet of thrill. Kurt's skills go well beyond building slip and slides. In the remote village of Malpais, skilled craftsmen are in high demand. But he's not a plumber anymore. I didn't come here to be a welder. But when I got here, I realized it was one of those things that nobody else was doing. Within a year, I was the welder in town of artistic gates and windows and doors. If you bring something that's a trade from the other world, it can really allow you to find your niche. Pretty soon I had more work than I know what to do with. It's a great tool. It's like better than Martha Stewart and the hot glue gun. Sure beats backed up sinks in Santa Cruz. Trading his monkey wrench for monkeys, Kurt paddled his way to his own endless summer. Nice way to finish the day here for me. Sit with my family or friends. Play a simple game, throwing rocks at a hole in a coconut. A lot of people, they say, oh, you have the perfect life. What is the perfect life? To me, perfect is when a plan comes together. I do not take this for granted. I do not take any of this for granted. Coming up, 315 days of sunshine a year. You can never not go, wow, when you see the water around here. But first, Costa Rica is known for exotic species and animals, but there's one little bug that really loves living here. What insect calls Costa Rica home more than any other place in the world? Costa Rica is home to 10% of the world's butterfly population. In fact, there are dozens of butterfly farms and sanctuaries around the country offering tourists a unique view into more than a thousand different species or butterfly lovers can just head out for a quick hike in the rainforest and see plenty all on their own. With more than 315 sunny days a year, the Bahamas is sure to please. The country is composed of 700 different islands, but surprisingly, only 30 are inhabited. And Harbor Island is the crown jewel of them all. We're here on Harbor Island, which is in the Bahamas. It is a very unusual place in the fact that everybody lives as one. They always call Harbor Island the jewel in the crown. Just 200 miles from Miami, this three-mile-long island is home to a mere 2,000 residents. It's best known for pink sands and crystal clear water and has everything a savvy traveler could want. Pristine beaches, underwater adventure, five-star accommodations and delicious cuisine. India Hicks left overcast England in search of a life on the beach. I'm going to live on a small tropical island in the middle of nowhere, not living the expected life. I love to feel completely at one with nature. I have it all around me on a daily basis. There's an evening sky that is completely clear. There's a three-mile pink sand beach. The pink comes from this extraordinary mollusk that lives on the reefs over time that gets crushed down, mixed with the coral and comes back up onto the beach as pink sand. You can never not go, wow, when you see the water around here. I've lived in Paris. I've lived in New York. I've lived in London. And yet, this is where I feel I belong. As a child, all I wanted to do was play on the beach. So I packed my diving gear and I came up to Harbor Island. I fell in love with the way of life because it has a community and it has a heart and soul to it. And a chance encounter gave India another reason to fall in love with island living. David and I had known each other in England. I walked into the hotel and he looked up and he said, what on earth are you doing here? And we had a sort of Casablanca moment. She came up to stay for the weekend to go diving and stayed for the weekend and now I can't get rid of her. 18 years later, we're still here. Five children, three dogs, two cats and a tortoise. We're going to be late. India decided to give Harbor Island a taste of her aristocratic flair and opened a high-end boutique for tourists and islanders. We're outside the sugar mill. This is exactly where the sugar was milled at the turn of the last century. It is now my boutique. We try to find things that are fairly unique. We've encouraged some young designers to do exclusive collections for us. And we're constantly reminding ourselves that we're here on an island, keeping it a bit earthy and a bit gritty because that's my style. And really, I want the whole shop to personify where I live. In the UK, you'd have to get into a car and drive to the beach. I live up those steps there. I can walk down and within a moment, I'm on a pink sand beach. Can you imagine being a child and growing up with this really at the end of your garden? And that's how my kids live. I wake up and I'm like, what am I going to do today? Here, you basically have a wide variety of anything. Scarfing. It's a very complicated genius idea by me. It's where you get a surfboard behind a boat with a rope. You go really fast. And you get your six-year-old sister to drive the boat. You can do it differently. And more than that, just be who you want to be. I think it would be very difficult for me to leave island life. To go back to England, it just is not who I am anymore.