www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Hello People, Newbie here.. Headin down to San Jose for a 4 day adventure in september. Friday night at the DR, looking to fly in to MA on sat. morning and found a company that does 2 afternoon dives starting at 12:30 pm for $100. Can't fly back after the dive because of the 24 hour rule. Gonna stay Sat. night in MA. Want to know if the interbus or renting a car is better when cruising back to SJ on Sunday? Also would like to know if anyone has done any SCUBA in the MA area and what it is like? Or if anyone has a good referral for a SCUBA company in MA? Thanks.. Tried to research SCUBA on the site and did not find much to work with...

There was one or two SCUBA companies there - not sure now

The fact there is not much info available should be your first indication perhaps the experience may not have been much - far better places to go

Interbus, but set it up early. Rental will tag you for 1 way, so unless you are going to drive both ways, my idea, Interbus. I assume 24 hr rule is a diver's thing, but it's only a 25 minute flight at max alt of 3,000 feet? $7 taxi each way from Quepos airport to the dock, unless they are going to pick you up. Not a diver, but been to Quepos a million times. My hunch not more diving there is maybe water clarity? --it's a bravo surf with darker sand so the water appears cafe colored until you get out to where the fisherman call blue water--an hour out. But, I don't know didley about diving.

PM if you want some other ideas of what to do that night and where to stay, might save you a few bucks.

I have dove out of Herradura about 20 miles north of MA.
Vis about 30-50 ft temp around 80 plenty of life.

The flight from Quepos will get higher than 3,000ft. The San Jose airport (SJO) is at an altitude of 3,022ft. A direct route from Quepos to San Jose will cross over some pretty high mountains, like in the 8,000ft. range. So be careful...and remember, even on the highway, you are going to be over 4,000ft. at times.

I'm no diver (really bad seasickness) so no idea what rules are on times/altitudes but I have heard from several people that dive boat trips to Cano Island are incredible.

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I meant 3,000 meters which is about 9,800 feet. Thank you for correcting me. The highest point in CR is Mt Chirripo at 3,800 meters but you won't be going that way to-from Quepos.

The "24 hour rule" is not really a hard and fast rule. The U.S. Air Force says you should wait 24 hours before you board a plane after scuba diving. OTOH, the U.S. Navy's recommended minimum pre-flight interval is only TWO hours. PADI's Flying After Diving guidelines fall somewhere in between, saying that you should not go to an altitude (fly) within 12 hours of completing a single dive or 18 hours when doing multiple dives (but where possible wait 24 hours). And DAN, the leading organization for diver safety issues, also recommends something in between with 12 hours for their minimum surface interval before flying. So which guideline should you use. Personally, I think DAN is probably the most authoritative when it comes to diver safety and medical issues and their guidelines state:


(source http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/faq/Flying_After_Diving)

Since you're staying over Saturday night, you probably could get away with flying back the next morning (even though it would be something a little less than the minimum 18 recommended by DAN, but if I were you I'd probably drive back simply to enjoy the truly awesome scenery along the way from a ground level (entirely different than the bird's eye view) if not also to be extra cautious about DCS. As others have stated, renting a car just for that drive wouldn't really be cost effective, particularly because of the extra pick-up/drop-off charges that would be involved in returning the car to a different location than where you got it. And, since you were even considering renting a car, "roughing it" by returning by public bus for $6 would probably be out as well (even though it doesn't really rough it all that much). So, using a tourist shuttle would probably be your next best way to go. Interbus has an 8:30AM departure for $45 ($42.75 if booked through http://www.shuttlebus.co.cr) or you return with Grayline leaving at 7:15AM for $44 (http://www.graylinecostarica.com/graylinetouristbus.php

BTW, and not to burst your bubble, but I agree with Scuba1 re: diving in CR. There is probably a good reason why you can't find much info on diving in the MA area and why there aren't more companies offering it. Of course, the fact that you couldn't find much on SCUBA diving on THIS site should not be too surprising since most of the guys around here are mostly just interested in MUFF diving, but it still doesn't get much better elsewhere. If you Google "scuba" and "costa rica", what you WILL find is much more info on diving elsewhere in CR other than MA. It is true that Canos Island (much further south along the Pacific coast) reportedly has some really great diving, but to go there you have to go out of Drake Bay which is much harder to get to/from than MA, particularly if you plan on returning to SJ from there without flying. Cocos Island, way off the Pacific coast would be even better for diving but trips there typically involve multi-day packages aboard dive-boats. And if you're looking for coral reefs than only place in CR where you'll find that will actually be near Cahuita on the CARIBBEAN side. Otherwise, you'll have to settle for cliff dives and pelagic sea life as the main attractions (though that can be pretty cool as well). The main problem with diving in CR in general is visibility. Unlike other Central American countries (notably Belize and Honduras, which also have awesome coral reefs offshore) CR has both a verdant onshore bio-system coupled with steep mountains that run down close to the shore (particularly along the central Pacific coast) resulting in lots of organic run-off which clouds the waters. This can especially be a problem during the rainy season, which will be at its height when you go down in September. Gatorsrule's terse review neglected to mention what time of year he went but I suspect it was probably during the dry season when conditions are normally at their prime. My recommendation would be to do your diving elsewhere in Costa Rica OR save it for some future trip that falls during the dry season.

One of the best sites in the world is Cocos Island, offshore Costa Rica - expensive; you have to plan on a week or 10 day trip, but its on almost every serious divers bucket list.

Off Octal, some very good diving exists; however Prolijo is correct; the "problem" is there is/are nutrients in the water, which is great for encouraging u/w life, but generally not so good for visibility - a great day in in NE Costa Rica, off Octal, for example is 40 - 60' of viz - other places, divers would want their money back.

Until the Cocos trip, I'd find other things to do in CR!