Bahamas here, waterfront as well. Vines - Chalice vine, Solandra guttata, is beautiful, fragrant, and tolerant of salt spray. I’d say that’s a front runner. Bridal bouquet, Stephanotis floribunda, is another. Native beach vines such as railroad vine, Ipomea pes-caprae, and beach pea, Canavalia maritima, are two pink/purple flowered possibilities for full beach exposure. Both can be trained up a trellis or similar structure. Clock vine, Thunbergia grandiflora, are durable and bring a scarce lavender blue colour to the mix. Fruiting trees for beachfront: Tamarind will survive anything and still bear, and Indian almond, although this one can become invasive. Native cocoplum will thrive, too, tough as nails and low maintenance with fruit that make great preserves. Seagrape of course, and back from the beach, papayas bear within weeks all the year round. Dwarf cavendish or other low statured bananas will get shredded less by sea winds. Short statured coconuts like “Maypan” bear close to the ground, don’t get too tall, and are immune to lethal yellowing disease. Other options include agaves (use your native ones! Birds love the blooms), your native lignum vitae trees for a blue flowered tree stunning in flower and fruit that can survive searing drought and seawater inundation, buttonwood, seven year apple, Plumeria (native or non), many hardy bromeliads, Caribbean native tree cacti in the Consolea group, your lovely native thatch aka tier palm Coccothrinax alta, and so many more. As for expanding your palm plantings, also consider Veitchia, Pritchardia, Latania, Pseudophoenix and the show stopping Bismarckia is surprisingly tolerant of drought, salt, and hurricane winds. Hope this helps, I’ve been at this a long time and wasted a lot of money to get to where I am. More on reddit.com

Why don’t you look up something that belongs in the area naturally and pick something you like from there? Or think of the environment you’ve got and look for a plant that likes that. Tropical plants are often shaded plants with high humidity and specific water needs. Being next to a concrete slab and pool chlorine doesn’t equate. More on reddit.com

Need advise, I have a small balcony that gets the full brunt of the Malaysian sun from 2 - 5pm. What plants would thrive in a pots there please? More on reddit.com

My main window faces SSE and I have a monstera, burgundy rubber tree, and ficus ruby basically touching the glass so they get direct sunlight for most of the day and are loving life. More on reddit.com