About Casa MarBella

It seems like another lifetime ago, but they met working at a dive shop in Koh Tao, Thailand. Both had separately been living nomadic lives for most of their 20’s, and enjoying their own adventures.

Andre, originally from Portugal, left his home in Madeira Island after high school and moved to Lisbon to get a university degree. This is where he got offered a job in Brazil that would end up sparking his wanderlust.  From there he would end up traveling the world, living in countless places and eventually earning a Masters in Business in Australia (where he could have achieved a masters in surfing too with the amount of time he spent at the beach).

Jessie, on the other hand, was born in the land where pizza crust comes in all shapes and sizes – the United States Midwest. She left home to study in University and ended up getting the travel bug after taking a semester abroad in Australia. From there she spent some time in Ireland and a few other places but most of her travels were spent in Thailand (just short of 6 years).

Their paths finally crossed when Andre came to Sairee Cottage Diving to do his Divemaster, where Jessie was already working as an instructor. It wasn’t necessarily love at first sight but close enough. Andre soon did his instructor training too. Their days were filled with teaching and enjoying island and diving life, while also being quite the social butterflies (Jessie in particular… rah rah rah!).

After a couple years, Andre was getting the itch to be able to surf again (no waves on the island where they were), and Jessie’s dad was getting ever more persistent in convincing Andre to bring her daughter closer to the U.S. That is what made them leave their island home and family, and embark on their new adventure in Central America.

After doing quite a lot of research, Costa Rica seemed to be the most promising place to settle in Central America as it’s safe, has a stable government, has 4% of the world’s biodiversity, and most importantly you can own your own business.

They flew into Costa Rica and knowing that both wanted to live by the beach and near the ocean travelled up and down the Pacific coast; Andre wanted to be able to surf most of the year so this made the Caribbean side not an option. They initially spent just shy of 2 weeks in Santa Teresa, and then continued their journey north, but couldn’t help but miss Santa Teresa during their travels and it seemed like a place they could settle and call home.

To make a long story short, they ended up returning to Santa Teresa after making it as far north as Tamarindo, and haven’t left since. Almost a year was spent looking at properties for sale, deciding on Casa MarBella, and starting the long legal process of buying it and making it their own dream. The previous owners were very gracious in the help and knowledge they passed on, which helped make the transition that much easier into becoming hotel owners when they finally got the keys and made it their own.