Revised Itinerary for checking
 

Thanks to all who have helped up to this point. We will be in CR for 18 days staring Nov 17. Here is what we have planned.
Day 1 Arrive 1:00 pm. Look around SJ stay in SJ for night
Day 2-3 Leave for guided 3day/2 night trip to Tortuguero
Day 4 return to SJ 8:30 am pick up rental car drive to Arenal. Hike
Day 5 Arenal
Day 6 Drive to Punteranas
Day 7 Take ferry to Nicoya & Montezuma
Day 8 Monetzuma
Day 9 Montezuma
Day 10 Drive to Manuel Antonio Stay 1 night
Day 11 Hike Manuel Antonio Park. Drive to Dominical. This stop will break up long drive to Osa.
Day 12 Drive to Drake Bay
Day 13-15 Explore Corocado & Osa
Day 16 Drive to Orosi area
Day 17 Orosi
Day 18 Drive to SJ Return rental car Flight home @ 13:55

Does this look do-able? We listened to the advice to fly to Osa but there was no saving by returning our rental car earlier vs air fare and then we would miss Orosi and the MA. Thanks

orewa, lucky you for having 18 days in CR!

I would make one change in the itinerary. Puntarenas is nothing to write home about. If you can take the ferry to Nicoya that same day (Day 6) and drive to Nicoya it would be much better(in the alternative, take the new Friendship Bridge to the peninsula and drive to Montezuma without taking the ferry). Then you will have day 7 and 8 in Montezuma and on day 9 drive to Manuel Antonio and stay 2 nights instead of just one night. This way you will have a full day in Manuel Antonio which I am sure you will enjoy. FYI, the MA National Park is closed on Mondays, so make sure your schedule will work with that.

I agree! Don't spend the night in Puntarenas. . .yuk!

Iza makes an excellent case for spending an extra night at MA.

An alternative (if you are looking to break up the drive between Arenal and Montezuma--it appeared that you were) is to drive to La Finca Que Ama to chill for the night. We did this once and left about 8:00 the next morning to catch the 10:00 ferry (or 10:30, I don't remember). This would be a good option for you IF you are wanting to break up that drive and IF you would be interested in taking in another little sector (and seldom touristed) part of the country. It offers some different vistas which I think you would enjoy.
And would provide a very nice relaxing afternoon and evening --if you think that might be of benefit!

DO check the ferry schedule--it tends to move about a little! www.nicoyapeninsula.com

Thank you for the suggestions. Do you know how long the drive is from Arenal to Montezuma via the ferry @ Puntarenas vs driving over the Friendship bridge? My map doesn't even show the bridge it still shows a ferry, so thanks for the heads up.

Taking the ferry means arranging your schedule to coincide with the ferry schedule, but should you arrive 30 minutes prior to ferry departure (advised), I'd say the total would be 6-6.5 hours, depending. I don't think you'll save much time by using the Friendship Bridge. Still looking at around 6 hours, maybe a little more. We like the ferry route because it relieves us of driving for an hour and a half!

We leave Tues. and I can't wait! I will post after we return. Thanks to everyone for your help.