www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I am going to SJ in March and booked a penthouse downtown. It is right by the SL. We want to go fishing at least two days and I was wondering what our best bet is as far as transportation from San Jose to Quepos. Money isn't an issue but safety is. Also we haven't booked the fishing yet and I'd like to get a recommendation on here about who to fish with.

Thanks!

Check out this thread: https://costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8340

There is a driver right inside Hotel La Amistad that will be more than happy to help you out. Same is true with drivers outside the Sportsman's.

Since you said money wasn't an object, I would think comfort is right up there with security.

For that matter, http://www.queposfishing.com/packagedeals.htm is a CRT member sponser....

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"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

Thanks a lot for the info. Do a lot of people staying in SJ do round trip fishing trips in the same day or do most get a hotel in the fishing town they choose? I have a place in SJ for a week so I didn't really want to waste nights renting other hotels in Quepos, Jaco (etc.) if its an easy trip back to SJ.

Fly ... no more than $100 each way
Nature Air or Sansa...That is the fastest way to get there

Definitely. If you're not staying over in Quepos, fly back the same day rather than facing that drive.

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I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries. Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!

Private driver to Quepos roundtrip - I would say about $200 - $250

Are these prices per person or for 2 people?

Per auto. As many folks as you can fit. You could probably jew him down below $200. If he has to stay there and wait for your return, price goes up. Interbus wants about $100 per person roundtrip.

Going beyond Toadtamer's ignorant and anti-semitic phraseology, his last statement is off on several accounts.

First of all, his $200-250 private driver rate is definitely on the high side. You shouldn't have to pay more than $200 for that even without having to "jew them down". Perhaps the reason he thinks it should cost so much is because the drivers he has worked with in the past took him for yet another foolish gringo WASP and figured they could ask (and easily get) that inflated rate he just quoted.

Secondly, Interbus does NOT want $100 per person round trip. Their rate is $39/pp each way and if you book them through www.shuttlebus.co.cr it will cost only $37. Grayline is even a little cheaper still at just $35/pp each way. Maybe Toadtamer was just exaggerating those rates a bit to make his private driver rates seem not so unreasonable.

Another thing that he failed to mention is that, because of the limited departure times available with either of those carriers, it would be highly impractical to use them to travel to and from MA in the same day. Interbus has an 8:15AM departure that arrives in MA at noon. Grayline leaves a little earlier at 7:30AM arriving in MA at 11:30. Either way would put you in MA a bit late in the day to go out on a boat. Most people go out in the morning before it gets too hot and possibly rainy, but I suppose charters that have returned from their morning trips would be more than happy to take your money in the afternoon. The problem with returning by group shuttle is that the last Grayline shuttle leaves at 1PM and the last Interbus shuttle leaves at 1:45PM, meaning the most time you would have in MA if you were trying to do it as a same day r/t by shuttle would be 2.25 hrs, hardly enough time to go out fishing let alone justify the 8 hrs of r/t driving time.

Obviously if you have a private driver you'd have much greater flexibility with times. However, it would still be virtually impossible to drive to MA and arrive at a reasonably early enough time to go out on a morning boat unless you were prepared to leave SJ WELL before dawn. The return trip by private driver might fit better into your schedule because you could leave much later in the afternoon but correspondingly that would put you back in SJ well into the evening and probably pretty worn out for much mongering after a full day out in the sun and 6-8 hours on the road. The only semi-practical way to do this as a 1 day trip would be to fly one or both ways or possibly to use a driver only for the return trip. And if you go that route you could do just a half day fishing trip and return by shuttle for much less than what you'd pay for a driver and still have the time and energy to enjoy your evening back in SJ.

Of course, your options open up considerably if you're prepared to bite the bullet and stay over a night in MA and that is probably the only real practical way to do this trip unless you're prepared to bite the bullet for airfare. Even for an overnight fishing trip to MA, you still might want to fly one or both ways. I already explained the limitations for driving to MA (whether by private driver or group shuttle) and arriving there early enough for a reasonable day of fishing the same day. Nature Air has a morning flight that will put you into the local airport in Quepos around 9:30AM but for the earliest arrival you'll need to fly via Sansa which has a flight as early as 6AM.

Alternatively you could leave for MA as late as you want by any method you want as long as you're content to just do your fishing the following morning. The group shuttle companies also have afternoon departures, if you wanted to get in a late morning MP session before you left for MA and/or didn't want to pay extra for airfare or a private driver. And if you wanted to make day 2 a fairly full day of fishing and yet still get back to SJ reasonably early in the evening, the last flights back to SJ leave around 4:30PM. If you can get Nature Air's "loco" fare (~$55/pp o/w), that would be much quicker and even a bit cheaper than hiring a private driver to take you back from MA even if there were 2 people in your group. If you get stuck with the regular fare (~$75/pp o/w) it would still be much faster than driving and not that much more than using a driver for 2 people.

I will never bother driving anywhere outside of SJ that I can fly to. The roads in CR are dangerous and the traffic in some places is insane. And if you get stuck behind a truck or bus on a winding mountain road, your 2hr drive might turn into a 4hr drive.

Fly Nature Air: www.natureair.com

You can get a RT ticket for about $120 total, if you book in advance.

I don't know what it's like now, but that road from Jaco to SJ was crazy! My taxi ended up going through the mountains at night, which is not good for the heart.

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I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries. Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!

If you have a little time, another option is the bus from Coca Cola...DIRECTO to Manual Antonio or Quepos. Fare is 3500 colones about 6 bucks and change. One chi chi stop in Atenas I think. Its 3.5 hours. Buses run about every hour or so. Its safe. Personally travelled via bus to MA over Christmas...no problems.

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Normally, I'd recommend taking the bus too as a fairly safe and certainly very cheap option. However, this guy specifically said "Money isn't an issue but safety is" and he also specifically asked if there was a way to do this as a day trip from SJ.

I agree with PR that traveling by public bus IS reasonably safe for most people or at least those with any modicum of travel experience and/or common sense. However, I could never say it was completely safe or at least was as secure as traveling by the other methods we've discussed, even for those with travel experience. For example, I don't recall hearing about ANY one traveling by tourist shuttle, private driver or plane getting pickpocketed or having to wait in a questionable area with all their valuables for their transport. But we all know that to one degree or another those things DO happen when traveling by bus. The fact is that, while it probably doesn't happen with the frequency that many people imagine, gringos, even some experienced CR vets, HAVE been ripped off when traveling by bus. For guys like PR and me, the cost savings and other advantages of public bus travel more than offset what is really only marginally greater insecurity, but this guy specifically said that safety was his number one concern and that cost was irrelevant and he might not be as comfortable with the idea of traveling that way as we are.

Also, a small point but the COLLECTIVO buses may run every hour but the DIRECTO's actually only run every 3 hours or so, and the COLLECTIVO's take 4.5 not 3.5 hours. As with the shuttles and to a somewhat lesser extent private drivers, if you want to do this as a day trip out of SJ, traveling both ways by ground means spending at least 7-8 hours on the road in addition to however many hours you spend out in open waters under the hot sun, ie a pretty tiring day that would leave me not up for much mongering after that. If you wanted to go by public bus, the earliest direct one leaves at 6AM and even with that early departure you don't get to Quepos until 9:30 and to the boat docks probably not until close to 10AM (ie not as early as if you fly). You can probably leave on a private charter at any time you want but that is later than most morning boats go out. At the other end, unless you do only a half a day of fishing, returning on a late afternoon or early evening bus to SJ puts you into the Coca Cola area of downtown well into the evening hours (ie raising the issue of safety). Of course, these issues can be reduced if you make it an overnight trip and/or you go the bus route only in one of the directions, but it still won't be quite as safe as the other travel methods for the reasons I stated in the last paragraph.

Thanks a lot for all of the info guys. I think I'm going to book natureair flights before we go because it seems reasonable especially if you book in advance. Again if anyone knows any charters they have had experience with let me know how to get in touch with them. Thanks.

Lynch Travel in Quepos has a website, they can arrange anyhthing. A guy name John has an office S Side of downtown--he's the big dea maker for fish charters b ut I forgot the name of his place. If there are only two of you, just get to the dock early, there's always some body looking for two. If money ain't an issue, same thing and take the whole boat yourself--there's always one boat in the fleet that ain't booked. Great fishing, but it's about an hour or so out to where they fish, and of course back in, unless you are going to fish "in shore", not worth it IMHO.