Work from anywhere.
Live by the water.
Field notes for people who work from anywhere and organise their lives around diving, surfing and paddling. Guides to where to base, what to pack, and how to stay online offshore.
Four things a working nomad by the water actually needs.
Built depth-first, each pillar goes deep before the next one opens.
Destinations
Where to base next: wifi, cost of living, visas, seasons and the water on your doorstep.
Open guides →Nomad Logistics
Insurance, eSIM, banking and visas, the recurring stuff that keeps you online and covered.
Open guides →Gear
Kit that survives salt water and airline holds. Tested picks and side-by-side comparisons.
Open guides →Skills & Safety
Dive, paddle and surf smarter. Technique, certification and staying safe offshore.
Open guides →New dispatches from the water and the desk.
First-hand where we have it, clearly sourced where we don't.
DestinationsAmed, Bali: the nomad-diver's guide
Two winters of muck dives, patchy power, and the coworking café that actually works, what I'd tell a friend before they book a month here.
by Yannick Schroth
Nomad LogisticsIndonesia's E33G visa, checked at the source
The remote-worker KITAS: USD 60,000 a year, a Rp 7,000,000 fee stack, and the renewal rule most guides get backwards.
Nomad LogisticsThailand's DTV: five years, 180 days a time
Multiple entry for five years, 180 days per stay, and a 500,000 baht balance test rather than an income test.
Nomad LogisticsSpain's nomad visa: what 200% of the SMI means now
The income bar is a formula, not a number. Here is the 2026 arithmetic, and the 20 percent cap freelancers miss.
Nomad LogisticsPortugal's D8, four times the minimum wage
3,680 EUR a month averaged over three months, 30,000 EUR of insurance, and a two-year AIMA permit at the end of it.
DestinationsWhere to go in August: the bases in season now
Low-water Zambezi rafting, peak Brazilian trades, Siargao swell and the warmest Azores water.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsWhere to go in September, month by month
Europe's autumn surf window at its best value, plus Brazil's windiest weeks and the calmest month in Zanzibar.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsWhere to go in October: dive seasons restart
The Red Sea window opens, Raja Ampat turns dry, the Similan park reopens and Atlantic groundswell returns.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsBest places to dive with sharks
Threshers, reef sharks and whale sharks: the bases where shark encounters are most dependable, from our verified guides.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsBest shore diving destinations
Walk-in and drive-and-dive bases that cut boat costs, from Bonaire and Gozo to the Red Sea and Amed.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsBest drift diving destinations
Current-fed reefs and walls, from easy Cozumel drifts to reef-hook territory in Komodo and Raja Ampat.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsBest macro diving destinations
Frogfish, mandarinfish and nudibranch hunting grounds: the muck and macro bases worth a long stay.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsBest flat-water kitesurfing spots
Shallow lagoons with wind you can plan a month around, from Dakhla and Kalpitiya to El Gouna and Le Morne.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsWhere to swim with sea turtles, ranked
The most reliable turtle spots you can base and work from, drawn from our verified destination guides.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsWhere to dive with manta rays, ranked
Cleaning stations and feeding sites that deliver mantas, from Nusa Penida to Raja Ampat and Tofo.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsThe best whale shark destinations for nomads
Where whale sharks are resident or reliably seasonal, and what a month there actually costs.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsThe best whale-watching bases for nomads
Coasts where whales pass close enough to build a working month around, with the season windows.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsThe best wreck diving destinations for nomads
From shallow, penetrable wrecks to deep steel: the wreck bases we cover, ranked for a long stay.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsThe cheapest watersports bases for nomads, ranked
Where a month by the water costs least, from Dahab and Utila to Da Nang, drawn from our verified guides.
Yannick Schroth
Nomad LogisticsSafetyWing vs Genki: which nomad insurance wins?
The two nomad insurers compared on price, everyday cover and the watersports add-on that covers divers.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsBest beginner surf destinations for digital nomads
Forgiving beach breaks, endless surf schools and a base you can live in, from Canggu to Weligama and Nosara.
Yannick Schroth
Nomad LogisticsAiralo vs Holafly vs Saily: the best travel eSIM
Coverage, unlimited data, tethering and price, and which travel eSIM actually suits how you work.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsFutaleufú: how to run Patagonia's turquoise big water
When to go, what grade you need, and the outfitters that put beginners on a raft down a Class V river without it going wrong.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsTulum for cenote swimmers: a working nomad's base
The freshwater caverns worth the entry fee, where the wifi actually holds, and the real cost of a month on the Riviera Maya.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsJericoacoara: kite season, dunes and dial-up dreams
Brazil's dune-backed kite town on the wind window, the getting-there faff, and whether you can really work from Jeri.
Yannick Schroth
Nomad LogisticsSafetyWing vs Genki: which actually covers a 30 m dive?
I read the fine print on both, so you don't have to, what's covered for recreational diving, and what quietly isn't.
Yannick Schroth
GearThe travel dive computer I stopped leaving at home
After three that cracked, corroded, or died on a plane, one finally earns its place in the carry-on.
Yannick Schroth
SkillsLearn to surf: the beginner's guide
Why a lesson and a soft-top beat ego, the pop-up that actually works, and the mistakes to skip.
Yannick Schroth
SkillsHow to start foiling: flying above the water
What a hydrofoil does, the easiest ways in, pitch control, and the sharp-foil safety you must respect.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsAdventure water: coasteering, canyoning & packrafting spots
From the Welsh coast to the Swiss Alps and Alaskan wilderness, and the safety that keeps it fun.
Yannick Schroth
SkillsHow to start whitewater kayaking
Learn with a club, the wet exit before the roll, reading the river, and respecting the grade.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsCheap, sociable wakeboarding: the best cable parks for nomads
No boat needed. Thailand, Bali and the Philippines' famous CWC, right beside the nomad hubs.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsLiving and working from a sailboat, the full cost
Why Starlink changed everything, why you work at anchor not underway, and how to start by crewing.
Yannick Schroth
Nomad LogisticsBest eSIM for digital nomads: Airalo vs a local SIM
Which keeps a video call alive from a warung in Amed, and what it actually costs to stay online.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsTarifa: Europe's kitesurfing capital, and the wind that never quits
Relentless Levante and Poniente, EU comforts and fast wifi, and the catch of a town built on wind.
Yannick Schroth
SkillsHow to start freediving (and not black out)
Why you never learn from a video, the one rule that keeps you alive, and where to take your first course.
Yannick Schroth
GearThe inflatable SUP that packs into a backpack
What actually matters, rigid drop-stitch, the right PSI and a decent pump, and what to ignore.
Yannick Schroth
DestinationsCozumel: world-class drift diving with actual fibre wifi
The rare Caribbean dive island where you can chase the Palancar wall and still take your standup.
Yannick Schroth
Nomad LogisticsTravel health insurance that doesn't quietly exclude diving
SafetyWing vs Genki vs comprehensive, and the watersports small print that catches divers out.
Yannick SchrothBases where the diving and the download speed both hold up.
All figures verified as of July 2026, methodology below.
8°20′S 115°30′EBest all-roundAmed, Bali
28°30′N 34°30′EBest valueDahab, Egypt
8°44′S 115°33′EBig-animal divingNusa Penida
28°16′N 16°36′WBest in EUTenerife
Every base we cover, plotted by its real coordinates.
A working map of the water we know, growing with every field trip.
We only point you toward water we'd travel to ourselves, and toward gear and cover we'd actually carry.The NOMADREEF method
The best travel & dive insurance for nomads in 2026.
Compared on price, dive-depth cover, and remote-work claims · as of Jul 2026
Yannick Schroth
Founder of NOMADREEF and a former digital nomad who has lived and worked across Asia and Latin America, Thailand, Taiwan, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and now Paraguay. He holds a BA in International Business and an MA in Global Studies, and writes NOMADREEF from lived location-independent experience.
Our method: we tell you what's first-hand, what's researched, and where the numbers came from. Where we haven't personally dived a site, we say so and source it carefully. Yannick on LinkedIn ↗
One dispatch a month.
No filler, no spam.
A new base worth considering, one gear pick, and one logistics tip for working nomads by the water.