I don't know about beach access (I would think the water would be freezing if it is anything like the coast of Peru)....BUT I would move in a heart beat if I could. Ecuador is one of my favorite places!!
What's best about it?
lol I lived their for three months.
It blows dogs off the chain and the wind is usually from the west, so its blowing onto the beach.
There are sandy beaches but they are not majority. Getting any type of hardware for a cat is close to nil or impossible.
You are better off as a surfer, wind surfer or a kit surfer. Sailing is not big at all. Catamarans are even worst. I spotted to waves in a yacht club on the shore city of Manta, and ufff they were in really rough shape.
Not a very gringo friendly country they take advantage of non native speakers very quickly and easily.
And forgot, the water is not cold at all, its actually very pleasant. I surfed a lot in shorts and rash guard. Never had to don my neoprene long sleeve rash guard.
Food is awesome, cheap and plentiful. Nothing like paying 75 cents a pound for pink shrimp. A dollar a pound tuna, that's every day!
Robi returns!
Long time
i had a friend on my cat last summer. She could not stop talking about her vacation down there, and how she couldn't wait to get back there.
Wuz daydreamin' about opening a little B&B, renting a few boats. Sounds like work...
Well...what about the west coast of Costa Rica?
Seems a lot of Americans like to retire down there. I hauled a plane load of Surfer Dudes down there a few years back, supposed to be cheap, safe and friendly....or it was at that time.
Sounds like work...
The Galapagos Islands are nice, been 20yrs since I was there but since it is so heavily protected I imagine it is still pretty much unspoiled (although eco-tourism has undoubtedly grown since then).
Tanzania is a nice place to sail as well if you are planning on doing an adventure.
There is a great regatta every year which combines a RAID with some bouy racing:
http://www.tanzacat.com/
It blows dogs off the chain and the wind is usually from the west, so its blowing onto the beach.
There are sandy beaches but they are not majority. Getting any type of hardware for a cat is close to nil or impossible.
You are better off as a surfer, wind surfer or a kit surfer. Sailing is not big at all. Catamarans are even worst. I spotted to waves in a yacht club on the shore city of Manta, and ufff they were in really rough shape.
Not a very gringo friendly country they take advantage of non native speakers very quickly and easily.
And forgot, the water is not cold at all, its actually very pleasant. I surfed a lot in shorts and rash guard. Never had to don my neoprene long sleeve rash guard.
Food is awesome, cheap and plentiful. Nothing like paying 75 cents a pound for pink shrimp. A dollar a pound tuna, that's every day!
That's IT, I'm packing up and moving!!
Best seafood you can find, Galapagos, wind, everything correct. The only problems I see are:
1) Quito, the capital, is inland. Sailing is possible near Guayaquil, the main port.
2) The current government is aligned with Venezuela (oil, populism, anti-US...). Lots of good people left the country, the economy is not in good shape, etc.
Things change, though.
Okay, let's think a bit here....
Boatload of work.... +
Second boatload of work ... =
lot-o-work.
It's good to have these thought experiments before signing up <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />
Pulled this from an article I read recently:
Just as our forefathers did, when the walls of the social contract start closing in, you go find a new piece of dirt. Or at least have a plan for it; the time to consider your escape options isn't while you're packing your bags.
Ecuador could be a possibility. It's pleasant here. The economy is growing. It has plenty of modern conveniences. It's easy to become a resident-- in some cases you can even use the funds in your IRA to qualify.
Plus it's cost-effective. You can still live reasonably well for under $1,000/month. And real estate can be extraordinarily cheap. I've just seen a spacious 2,000 square foot home on 10 acres for about $100,000 dollars; they're effectively selling the home at construction cost and throwing in the land for free.
The only place I'd consider escaping TO is the U.S.
I was thinking of some place pleasant and inexpensive to escape hurricane season and possibly off set my expenses.
To tell the truth I'm so jealous of the St. Barts trip that the F18s do that I was looking for a substitute. Maybe a 10 day trip some place really nice.
A lot of people in Europe fly over here in the winter to go to...
Sanibel.
How far is that from you?
20 minutes?
And they speak English there!
Well, most of them do.
Another day on Sanibel! Geez.
You meant;
Another Lousy Day in Paradise!
right?
Pretty much. Still one wishes to see new sights.
Pete you are too lazy to live in Ecuador.
Perhaps. I'm certainly too lazy to work in Ecuador or anyplace else.
i liked sailing in the philippines
Actually, Timbo, it would appear a good bit of Naples/Sanibel area are speaking German right now... Lots of eruo-investors snapped up beachfront digs when they were all foreclosed on.
Too bad the crotchety old puritan snowbirds are making such a fuss about
beach attire
(seems the euros have a different attitude about appropriate dress) they may scare them all off...
Best comment on the subject from an unnamed beach safety officer
I wouldn't worry about it much (the controversy)... they'll probably all be dead by next season anyway
best
I wish I had a picture
moment - an old geezer the color of wet leather soaking up the rays with a cigarette in one hand, and her portable oxygen concentrator in the other...