You asked in the right place. I recently spent the better part of ten years trying to find this place, for exactly the same reasons. Sadly, the short answer is that it doesn't exist.
Like you, I'm 100% remote, so my constraints were "Somewhere in the world, with pleasant living and good surf". Sounds easy right? The problem though is that they nearly always put the good surf right on the beach, so anywhere that also has pleasant living will have $5m houses to go with it.
California crosses itself off the list immediately. Santa Cruz has tiny run down houses for around a million dollars in the Pleasure Point area, walking distance to some really good surfing, but you need to at least double that if you want a house that isn't being sold as a teardown. Santa Barbara has good waves and possibly four houses within 30 miles that you can afford, but none down by Rincon where you want to be.
San Clemente could work. If you drive far enough up the hill from Trestles, the soulless, yardless, cheaply built houses eventually come down to $800k. Further north, you might find a house inland from one of the urban breaks for that price, provided you don't mind people shooting at your kids on occasion.
As to Parts South? I'd recommend you spend a good full season in Nicaragua or similar before you buy there. You'll learn a lot about the psyche of your typical Expat Surfer In Central America. Turns out he's kinda bitter, and not a very pleasant guy to spend your time with.
And the places where you'd buy your house tend to be of the "cleared farmland on the coast between fishing villages" variety, with gates at the road to ensure you never meet any locals and Fancy-yet-Sad houses overlooking the sea at prices that aren't really as cheap as you'd expect. It's unlikely that you'll actually find a nice piece of land next to the quaint fishing village with an undiscovered point break out front.
We spent several winters in places like that, and never found one that really felt like we could make it home.
One ray of hope might be Puerto Rico, in the West Rincon or Aguada area. Spend next winter there and see if you can deal with the combination of dusty cinder block houses on the coast with giant Walgreens/KFC strip malls on the outskirts of every little town. With a good architect and a well chosen plot of land, you could make it work there. A lot of people have, and the vibe is a lot more friendly than the Mexico crowd.
All the best, and don't hesitate to hit me up with any questions!