CR: started in San Jose (dump). Quickly drove to Uvita/Domenicale, with the navigation of my son who was living there at the time, and stayed in an AirBNB. Fantastic, cheap. Drove from there to Manuel Antonio National Park, saw sloths and a couple types of monkeys in the trees. Also relatively inexpensive and a fantastic visit. Drove from there to Corcovado National Park. Insanely cool: the drive including fording a river about 2 feet deep in our rental CR-V. Dramatic but no issues. Great beach, did a hike in Corcovado, took a boat ride to different parts of that national park, snorkeled. Saw "false killer whales" that swam alongside our boat for awhile. To me, the wildlife of CR is one of the main attractions. Ended up seeing a Coati? in Corcovado and all the other types of monkeys native to the area. Main advantages: cheaper; poor man's Hawaii, but Spanish speaking if you'd like to relive mission days. Great surfing. Hawaii's flora is prettier but CR has fauna Hawaii only dreams about. Disadvantage: I don't speak Spanish, had to have my son navigate everywhere. Getting around by car would be challenging otherwise. Some petty crime; not crazy unsafe, but don't be stupid, stay in well-lit, public places.

Bora Bora: stayed there 2 days as part of a cruise of French Polynesia, so didn't stay in a hotel, but I've got a friend that stayed at a resort there and also loved it. This vacation would be about hanging out on the beach, doing some snorkeling / scuba. The island isn't big so you could see all of it in a 1 hour tour by taxi. It's absolutely gorgeous flora-wise, but the fauna is in the water, so definitely swim, snorkel, scuba. This is going to be more (a lot more) than even Hawaii, if you stay at one of these resorts. If your wife talks you into a bungalow over the water, insanely more. Plus airfare is more. Doing scuba there I swam with reef sharks and lemon sharks, saw all kinds of cool fish. There was a "stingray city" place a lot like the one in Grand Cayman where the stingrays are used to people feeding them, so they swim all around you and let themselves be picked up, kissed, etc. It's French speaking, so that was mission-reminiscent for me. Advantages: one of the best resort experiences you're likely to have, ever. One of the prettiest places on earth (more than Hawaii IMO). Food is better, but again, expensive! A really different vacation. Disadvantage: COST.

Of the two, I want to go back to both. If someone said they'd pay for me to go to either, my choice, it'd be Bora Bora. If I had to pay for it on my own, it's more of a toss-up, but that shows you that Bora Bora is mostly worth the cost to me. I'd do CR to re-see the wildlife but Bora Bora to see the landscape and the blue ocean & sea life. If you could do either, I'd lean Bora Bora. If you don't want to break the bank, CR is still a great choice.