Kevster
Contributor
Big Trip Indonesia- Part 2 Alor, Palu, Lembeh, -Aug/Sept 09
Part of a 65 day adventure diving Indonesia.
After diving Palau Weh & Bali it was time to head further a field to a place I had never been before.
ALOR
Alor is fairly remote & not so easy to get to which generally means less divers & better diving. It is to the East of Flores, just above Timor. I flew from Bali to Kupang with Garuda and had to overnight in Kupang before flying to Alor the next day with Transnusa. Although both of these flights are short (75 mins & 50 mins) it is difficult to get good connections to complete the journey in 1 day. I paid excess baggage only one way on the Transnusa flights, the allowance to/from Alor is only 15 Kgs. Hand baggage was not checked for weight. Alor airport is very small. I think there is only 1 flight per day. Both of our Transnusa flights were delayed. The outward flight by 2hrs, the return by 3.5 hrs. Kupang airport has free Wifi.
I stayed in the Bahtera Indah hotel ($25) in Kupang. This hotel was fine; the room was clean & comfortable for 1 night. No-one spoke English & I got the impression not many foreigners stay here. Hospitality was a throw back to the good old days; evening tea & breakfast was delivered to your room. The hotel had a nice outdoor cafe area that had a nice view during sunset. The other more exp hotels ($60-70) were all full.
After arriving in Alor it was a 30 min car journey followed by 30 min boat journey to get to the Alor Divers Eco resort
The Alor divers eco resort is more expensive than the other two dive Ops in Alor.
I stayed 7 nights (6 dive days) which cost 860 Euros. This included 2 daily boat dives, unlimited house reef dives & full board. Domestic flights from Bali-Kupang (with Garuda) -Alor- Kupang- Surabaya(with Batavia) cost $250, which I arranged in Bali using KCBJ travel agency. (The Transnusa flights cost approx $130.)
The Resort
The resort is on a fantastic white sandy beach on Pantar Island.
1. View from resort
If you did not dive this would still be a great place to visit to relax. There are 8 or 9 bungalows spread out just off the beach. The bungalows were nice & new and had fan, hot water & veranda with a hammock. Nice shampoo, shower gel, soap & toothpaste were provided.
2. Accom
There was no problem with electricity supply. I also got a big bucket in my bungalow to wash/rinse my camera housings. The resort also offered a free laundry service. Meals were nice and the main course was always fish/tuna based. Soup was also served in the evenings.
During the week there were only 6 guests in total, of which only 4 were diving. For 2 days it was just me & the guide diving. The resort has two speed boats but they are currently only using 1 for diving so the resort currently limits the number of divers to approx 6 or 7. The dive guides were the French owner & a Japanese guide.
The resort definitely has the small friendly feel. (The only bad thing to report; there was no Wifi or internet so I was not able to follow England winning the Ashes in the 5th test!!!!)
The Diving
The weather was great all week, sunny blue skies with a few clouds. It was not humid and was actually cool in the evenings, no need for the fan. Topside conditions were great, the surface was flat, it was basically like diving in a lake most of the week. On the surface you could see how strong the current was. At some locations it was like a river on the surface Water temps varied from 21-28 C. Basically the sites to the south of Pura Island were all cold 21-24 C. The sites to the north were warm 26-28 I was ok in a 3mm + vest+5mm hood at the colder sites. The resort has a powerful speedboat and the max travel time to the dive sites was generally 30-40 mins. Other sites were closer. There appeared to be lots of dive sites around with different types of diving offered. Some walls, slopes, black sand, fast current dives, gentle drift dives.
I did 3 dives a day. One morning boat dive followed by a house reef dive then an afternoon boat dive. I did 1 night dive on the house reef & 18 dives in total.
The house reef was good. The viss was best in the mornings so it was the norm to dive here before lunch. The house reef was a slope then wall with great corals, sponges & good reef fish life. There were a couple of pigmy sea horses & several Nudis. There was also a small area of sea grass & mangrove for snorkeling.
3. House reef
There were no other dive boats at any of the sites all week. Only a few small fishing boats & some small outriggers that the locals were using to spear fish.
Some of the site had wicked current. We only did 1 dive actually looking for fast current & it was ripping. Other sites were chosen based getting the sunlight on the wall & avoiding big current. I think there are some famous sites (Karls Dream) that are rarely dived due to the strong current On 1 dive we encountered strong down current. Our bubbles were being pulled downwards. This was quiet a scary moment hanging onto the reef and seeing bubbles being dragged down to the depths. There were approx 4 dives that we had to hold onto rocks due to the current, a reef hook may be useful here.
One of the main highlights was the unbelievable viss.
4. Reef
The viss varied from 25 to 40+ m
My first dive at Alor was Red sand beach. It was only myself & the guide in the water The viss was the best I have ever seen. It was an amazing dive, probably the best one of the 18 dives.
Most of the sites were walls or slopes. The coral/reef was fantastic. Some of the most colourful reefs I have ever seen. There were some massive coral/sponge structures & lots of small colourful reef fish. During one of the wall dives a small (approx 4m) whale shark swam past approx 15 m below us while most of the group were looking for small stuff on the wall. I was so surprised I did not manage to get a photo. This was the exception. Generally there was not a lot of fish life out in the blue water during most of the gentle drift dives. Only on the fast current dive was there a lot of fish life in the blue water. During the fast current dive we saw approx 5 Black tips, grey reef shark, school of Barracuda, Tuna, Wahoo, Bumperhead parrot fish & Jacks. However due to the current it was impossible to get any photos. Infact having a camera on that dive was not a good idea & I only have a small set up.
The boat crew saw a Mola Mola surface while we were diving at one of the colder sites. We did not see it underwater. It was reported that there are regular surface sighting of MM at one of the sites to the south of Pantar Island, perhaps there is a cleaning station here?
5. Stone fish
Alor is a great dive location. The reefs are really colourful with good reef fish life. The viss was fantastic and basically you never know what may swim by in the blue water. The 2 macro dives were a bit hit & miss. One was good and the other was not.
Underwater highlights WHALE SHARK!!!, mandarin fish, pigmy seahorse, blacktips, barracuda, wahoo, tuna, bumperhead parrot fish, blue ribbon eels, free swimming ribbon eel, 3 sea snakes, lots of scorpion fish , stone fish, orangutan crab, several Nudis, great sponges, sea horse, Rhinopias . (Its a big list)
Summary
I really enjoyed my time in Alor & would have liked to have stayed longer. Definitely some of the best reef diving I have done in Indonesia. Taking into account the general ease of travel (Compared to R4) and the cost, I would rate Alor very highly in terms of value for money for a great/relaxing diving holiday.
Recommended season to visit is Oct-Nov (Also reported to be whale season) & then April/May. I was very lucky regarding surface conditions/weather, great viss & the whale shark sighting. Alor has some great reef dives, unfortunately most of the blue water big fish action is also on the ripping current dives.
The Alor divers resort was a great place to relax and do some high quality diving. I would recommend this place and I hope to return sometime soon. I would probably rate this place as my 2nd favourite dive resort, it was that good.
Part of a 65 day adventure diving Indonesia.
After diving Palau Weh & Bali it was time to head further a field to a place I had never been before.
ALOR
Alor is fairly remote & not so easy to get to which generally means less divers & better diving. It is to the East of Flores, just above Timor. I flew from Bali to Kupang with Garuda and had to overnight in Kupang before flying to Alor the next day with Transnusa. Although both of these flights are short (75 mins & 50 mins) it is difficult to get good connections to complete the journey in 1 day. I paid excess baggage only one way on the Transnusa flights, the allowance to/from Alor is only 15 Kgs. Hand baggage was not checked for weight. Alor airport is very small. I think there is only 1 flight per day. Both of our Transnusa flights were delayed. The outward flight by 2hrs, the return by 3.5 hrs. Kupang airport has free Wifi.
I stayed in the Bahtera Indah hotel ($25) in Kupang. This hotel was fine; the room was clean & comfortable for 1 night. No-one spoke English & I got the impression not many foreigners stay here. Hospitality was a throw back to the good old days; evening tea & breakfast was delivered to your room. The hotel had a nice outdoor cafe area that had a nice view during sunset. The other more exp hotels ($60-70) were all full.
After arriving in Alor it was a 30 min car journey followed by 30 min boat journey to get to the Alor Divers Eco resort
The Alor divers eco resort is more expensive than the other two dive Ops in Alor.
I stayed 7 nights (6 dive days) which cost 860 Euros. This included 2 daily boat dives, unlimited house reef dives & full board. Domestic flights from Bali-Kupang (with Garuda) -Alor- Kupang- Surabaya(with Batavia) cost $250, which I arranged in Bali using KCBJ travel agency. (The Transnusa flights cost approx $130.)
The Resort
The resort is on a fantastic white sandy beach on Pantar Island.
1. View from resort
If you did not dive this would still be a great place to visit to relax. There are 8 or 9 bungalows spread out just off the beach. The bungalows were nice & new and had fan, hot water & veranda with a hammock. Nice shampoo, shower gel, soap & toothpaste were provided.
2. Accom
There was no problem with electricity supply. I also got a big bucket in my bungalow to wash/rinse my camera housings. The resort also offered a free laundry service. Meals were nice and the main course was always fish/tuna based. Soup was also served in the evenings.
During the week there were only 6 guests in total, of which only 4 were diving. For 2 days it was just me & the guide diving. The resort has two speed boats but they are currently only using 1 for diving so the resort currently limits the number of divers to approx 6 or 7. The dive guides were the French owner & a Japanese guide.
The resort definitely has the small friendly feel. (The only bad thing to report; there was no Wifi or internet so I was not able to follow England winning the Ashes in the 5th test!!!!)
The Diving
The weather was great all week, sunny blue skies with a few clouds. It was not humid and was actually cool in the evenings, no need for the fan. Topside conditions were great, the surface was flat, it was basically like diving in a lake most of the week. On the surface you could see how strong the current was. At some locations it was like a river on the surface Water temps varied from 21-28 C. Basically the sites to the south of Pura Island were all cold 21-24 C. The sites to the north were warm 26-28 I was ok in a 3mm + vest+5mm hood at the colder sites. The resort has a powerful speedboat and the max travel time to the dive sites was generally 30-40 mins. Other sites were closer. There appeared to be lots of dive sites around with different types of diving offered. Some walls, slopes, black sand, fast current dives, gentle drift dives.
I did 3 dives a day. One morning boat dive followed by a house reef dive then an afternoon boat dive. I did 1 night dive on the house reef & 18 dives in total.
The house reef was good. The viss was best in the mornings so it was the norm to dive here before lunch. The house reef was a slope then wall with great corals, sponges & good reef fish life. There were a couple of pigmy sea horses & several Nudis. There was also a small area of sea grass & mangrove for snorkeling.
3. House reef
There were no other dive boats at any of the sites all week. Only a few small fishing boats & some small outriggers that the locals were using to spear fish.
Some of the site had wicked current. We only did 1 dive actually looking for fast current & it was ripping. Other sites were chosen based getting the sunlight on the wall & avoiding big current. I think there are some famous sites (Karls Dream) that are rarely dived due to the strong current On 1 dive we encountered strong down current. Our bubbles were being pulled downwards. This was quiet a scary moment hanging onto the reef and seeing bubbles being dragged down to the depths. There were approx 4 dives that we had to hold onto rocks due to the current, a reef hook may be useful here.
One of the main highlights was the unbelievable viss.
4. Reef
The viss varied from 25 to 40+ m
My first dive at Alor was Red sand beach. It was only myself & the guide in the water The viss was the best I have ever seen. It was an amazing dive, probably the best one of the 18 dives.
Most of the sites were walls or slopes. The coral/reef was fantastic. Some of the most colourful reefs I have ever seen. There were some massive coral/sponge structures & lots of small colourful reef fish. During one of the wall dives a small (approx 4m) whale shark swam past approx 15 m below us while most of the group were looking for small stuff on the wall. I was so surprised I did not manage to get a photo. This was the exception. Generally there was not a lot of fish life out in the blue water during most of the gentle drift dives. Only on the fast current dive was there a lot of fish life in the blue water. During the fast current dive we saw approx 5 Black tips, grey reef shark, school of Barracuda, Tuna, Wahoo, Bumperhead parrot fish & Jacks. However due to the current it was impossible to get any photos. Infact having a camera on that dive was not a good idea & I only have a small set up.
The boat crew saw a Mola Mola surface while we were diving at one of the colder sites. We did not see it underwater. It was reported that there are regular surface sighting of MM at one of the sites to the south of Pantar Island, perhaps there is a cleaning station here?
5. Stone fish
Alor is a great dive location. The reefs are really colourful with good reef fish life. The viss was fantastic and basically you never know what may swim by in the blue water. The 2 macro dives were a bit hit & miss. One was good and the other was not.
Underwater highlights WHALE SHARK!!!, mandarin fish, pigmy seahorse, blacktips, barracuda, wahoo, tuna, bumperhead parrot fish, blue ribbon eels, free swimming ribbon eel, 3 sea snakes, lots of scorpion fish , stone fish, orangutan crab, several Nudis, great sponges, sea horse, Rhinopias . (Its a big list)
Summary
I really enjoyed my time in Alor & would have liked to have stayed longer. Definitely some of the best reef diving I have done in Indonesia. Taking into account the general ease of travel (Compared to R4) and the cost, I would rate Alor very highly in terms of value for money for a great/relaxing diving holiday.
Recommended season to visit is Oct-Nov (Also reported to be whale season) & then April/May. I was very lucky regarding surface conditions/weather, great viss & the whale shark sighting. Alor has some great reef dives, unfortunately most of the blue water big fish action is also on the ripping current dives.
The Alor divers resort was a great place to relax and do some high quality diving. I would recommend this place and I hope to return sometime soon. I would probably rate this place as my 2nd favourite dive resort, it was that good.
