mrrworld
Contributor
Had a very good dive trip in Alor a few weeks ago in early April. Once outside of the inlet, the reefs are in fantastic condition. I usually dont notice the coral that much when diving as I am more interested in looking for fish but in Alor, the coral kind of steals the show. Its in great condition, very colorful, very healthy, really beautiful. Fish life is also very abundant although, to steal a phrase from another post I read, it seemed to lack the wow factor. We saw some bamboo sharks including one very big one (1.5 meters we estimated), a woebegone shark, octopus, some blue spotted rays, turtle, and mandarin fish but nothing super incredible. Most dives were coral slopes, there were some walls involved, a few dives had a nice current but we did not dive or experience anything too difficult. One thing that was memorable was the water temperature, which ranged from 72 to 81 degrees, sometimes in the same dive. It seemed like there was constant thermoclines on a few dives. The dives in the inlet (usually the third dive of the day) was closer to a muck dive and we saw some interesting things on those dives too. Even saw a mola-mola at the surface but when we got close to it with the boat, it descended. Visibility outside the inlet was very good, probably 80 feet on some of the dives. Inside the inlet, the vis was much worse.
Dive Sites:
Alor Besar nice current, some deep crevices, ledges to check out
Fault Line incredible coral
Ampera couple of blue spotted rays
Coconut Grove stunning reef, great vis
Mirror Image Wall dive with great vis
Comet Bay no comet fish in comet bay
Clown Valley might have been the best dive of the trip. If you are a fan of anemone and clown fish, this is the dive for you. Saw an ornate woebegone shark and then a 1.5 meter bamboo shark.
Schools Out another bamboo shark. Saw a mandarin fish here.
Pink Forest ok dive
Tip Top followed three cuttlefish for most of this dive, watching them hunt but water temp never got higher than 72
Nite Delight
Kendy Bay
We dove with Thomas (German guy who has been there for 6 years) and Alor Dive. He does three dives a day, has a big boat, serves lunch (very good sambal if you like sambal). He is based in the town of Kalahabi so the boat ride out to the sites is a long 1 to 1.5 hours. There is nothing else going on in Kalahabi so sitting on a boat is not bad at all. The local dive guide was fine, not really big on pointing things out but he got us back to the boat. They took care of your gear between dives, which I always like. To be honest, if you are looking for lots of hand holding, pampering, or overly attentive dive guides and boatmen like you get in a resort, Alor Dive may not be for you. The briefs were definitely brief, they let you dive as you wanted, and they let you stay down until you were out of air or said you wanted to surface. I enjoyed being treated like an adult and have the freedom to dive but it may not be for everyone.
Not much going on in Kalahabi. Its kind of a beat town, probably the most non-touristy place Ive ever been. Saw a lot of guys sitting on motorbikes with nothing to do. We stayed at Nufitra Hotel, probably a two star. It was clean, had running luke-warm water, gave you toast for breakfast, and a snack when you returned from diving. They would cook dinner for you if you told them in the morning. I dont think I saw another place to stay but there may have been. Nufitra is not walking distance to the main town but it is walking distance to a decent restaurant, maybe the only one we saw. In town, along the water, they grill fish and chicken but get a price beforehand since they will try to rip you off (we learned the hard way on this one). On our day of no diving, we took some motorbike ride around the island to some nice beaches. There may be some touristy things to do on the island but the one tour guide wanted $120 for the day, which seemed crazy.
We thought about staying on another island and staying at a place called Le Petite something. I cant remember the name. In the end we chose to stay in town, thinking it would be nice to walk around in the evening, seeing what local life is like. But like I said, the town is not that nice. Le Petite would have the advantage of being closer to the dive sites, but I think they only do two dives a day. There is supposedly some eco-dive resort but I did not see it and never saw their dive boat. I checked their website and the prices seemed steep.
One nice thing is we saw no other divers or dive boats the entire week and on our boat there was never more than 4 divers including me and my wife. Somedays it was just me as my wife got sick. You really felt like you were in undiscovered diving. It was nice.
Alor is not the easiest place to get to but it is definitely worth the effort. I think the diving is better than Bali but not as good as Bunakan or Komodo (although I have not been to Bunakan in 14 years). Id got back for sure if I have the time.
For pictures and video of a cuttlefish hunting (stick with it for 15-20 seconds), go to:
https://picasaweb.google.com/118029758271874511175/Alor
Hunting Cuttlefish - YouTube
Cheers,
Michael
Dive Sites:
Alor Besar nice current, some deep crevices, ledges to check out
Fault Line incredible coral
Ampera couple of blue spotted rays
Coconut Grove stunning reef, great vis
Mirror Image Wall dive with great vis
Comet Bay no comet fish in comet bay
Clown Valley might have been the best dive of the trip. If you are a fan of anemone and clown fish, this is the dive for you. Saw an ornate woebegone shark and then a 1.5 meter bamboo shark.
Schools Out another bamboo shark. Saw a mandarin fish here.
Pink Forest ok dive
Tip Top followed three cuttlefish for most of this dive, watching them hunt but water temp never got higher than 72
Nite Delight
Kendy Bay
We dove with Thomas (German guy who has been there for 6 years) and Alor Dive. He does three dives a day, has a big boat, serves lunch (very good sambal if you like sambal). He is based in the town of Kalahabi so the boat ride out to the sites is a long 1 to 1.5 hours. There is nothing else going on in Kalahabi so sitting on a boat is not bad at all. The local dive guide was fine, not really big on pointing things out but he got us back to the boat. They took care of your gear between dives, which I always like. To be honest, if you are looking for lots of hand holding, pampering, or overly attentive dive guides and boatmen like you get in a resort, Alor Dive may not be for you. The briefs were definitely brief, they let you dive as you wanted, and they let you stay down until you were out of air or said you wanted to surface. I enjoyed being treated like an adult and have the freedom to dive but it may not be for everyone.
Not much going on in Kalahabi. Its kind of a beat town, probably the most non-touristy place Ive ever been. Saw a lot of guys sitting on motorbikes with nothing to do. We stayed at Nufitra Hotel, probably a two star. It was clean, had running luke-warm water, gave you toast for breakfast, and a snack when you returned from diving. They would cook dinner for you if you told them in the morning. I dont think I saw another place to stay but there may have been. Nufitra is not walking distance to the main town but it is walking distance to a decent restaurant, maybe the only one we saw. In town, along the water, they grill fish and chicken but get a price beforehand since they will try to rip you off (we learned the hard way on this one). On our day of no diving, we took some motorbike ride around the island to some nice beaches. There may be some touristy things to do on the island but the one tour guide wanted $120 for the day, which seemed crazy.
We thought about staying on another island and staying at a place called Le Petite something. I cant remember the name. In the end we chose to stay in town, thinking it would be nice to walk around in the evening, seeing what local life is like. But like I said, the town is not that nice. Le Petite would have the advantage of being closer to the dive sites, but I think they only do two dives a day. There is supposedly some eco-dive resort but I did not see it and never saw their dive boat. I checked their website and the prices seemed steep.
One nice thing is we saw no other divers or dive boats the entire week and on our boat there was never more than 4 divers including me and my wife. Somedays it was just me as my wife got sick. You really felt like you were in undiscovered diving. It was nice.
Alor is not the easiest place to get to but it is definitely worth the effort. I think the diving is better than Bali but not as good as Bunakan or Komodo (although I have not been to Bunakan in 14 years). Id got back for sure if I have the time.
For pictures and video of a cuttlefish hunting (stick with it for 15-20 seconds), go to:
https://picasaweb.google.com/118029758271874511175/Alor
Hunting Cuttlefish - YouTube
Cheers,
Michael
