Life's a Beach

Ex-pats run a bed and breakfast in the Bahamas and a taco stand in Panama.

A struggling actor leaves Hollywood to become a wedding planner in Fiji.

Savvy travelers find a way to make living in paradise a full-time job.

Savvy travelers create a Costa Rican treehouse and a surf hotel in Fiji.

Ex-pats enjoy life in paradise with a custom motocross track in Nicaragua.

Savvy travelers settle beachside in Nicaragua and Puerto Rico.

Savvy travelers settle in paradise in Nicaragua and French Polynesia.

After shipwrecking in the South Pacific, two lovebirds build their own private paradise. A cowgirl from Canada isn't horsing around when she builds a ranch in Nicaragua. Further east, a salesman flies around St. Thomas.

From a backyard spa in Costa Rica to a floating pizza food truck in the Virgin Islands, expats ditch the stresses of everyday life to live out their greatest fantasies on the best beaches across the globe.

A San Franciscan native skips town to Nicaragua to enjoy a personal motocross track in his backyard. An ocean away, a couple can see into yesterday in Fiji and a charter captain builds his own party vessel in the Virgin Islands.

Two families merge and move to the Bahamas for a chance at paradise. In St. John, best pals bring beer to the beach with island flair and an architect builds a six-story villa in the shape of a yacht in Costa Rica.

Friends uncover tropical islands to flip for profit in Panama and a struggling actor leaves L.A. to create romance in Fiji. A student starts anew in Costa Rica by finding love and opening a West Coast pizza joint.

A carpenter books it to Mexico to build an island from recycled bottles. Two friends boast the best party in Nicaragua and an oceanside recording studio. A Kansas native brings the Yellow Brick Road to Puerto Rico.

In Costa Rica, a contractor builds his dream home in the treetops. From business student to beach boss, a surfer coasts down to Nicaragua to open a surf school. An advertising exec discovers professional fulfillment in Moorea.

A New Jersey native constructs his own submarine in Honduras. An artist opens Tahiti's first pottery studio, and an Englishwoman starts a family on the pink sand beaches of Harbor Island.

A performing pirate sets sail for the British Virgin Islands, and a couple in Panama will trade your swim trunks for tacos with a twist. In Anguilla, a college grad takes the plunge and opens the island's most popular beach bar.

A former Peace Corps member crash lands in Costa Rica and turns junked jets into local gems. In Fiji, a single father transforms an off-the-grid island into a surfer's paradise, and one couple opens their very own B&B in Panama.