Actually, I spoke to one person who dived with a LOB from Flores and an other guy who dived with P'*** Kepa. I also saw a underwater video of someone who visited Alor. There were a lot of colours and the reef seemed very healthy but I did 'n see so much fish. You mention also Gilis as one of the worst (?) places in Indonesia. Is it? I was also considering to visit the Gilis because I travel with my wife and daughter (AOW) and they would like to visit it. I saw it as an opportunity to dive with my daughter, realising that in Komodo or Alor the conditions are more challenging due to currents.
Hi Danz, I wouldn't trust a LOB guide to get the timing right for Alor sites as they don't spend nearly enough time there to really know the place. Most of the bad Alor reports I read came from LOB divers, which is not surprising. As for P Kepa, I'm sure somebody there knows the sites very well as they are the oldest op in the area, but maybe their guides are not so experienced as the owners, who I doubt are running the dive boats. That's another point in Thomas's favor, he always goes out with the boat and usually does all the dives. I didn't see any of Pk's boats out the whole 12 days I was there and we went past the island almost everyday. In fact, I didn't see any other dive boats the whole time we were diving.
As for the Gilis, I have been there 2 times, both after trips on the Blue Marlin LOB trips to Komodo. Yes, they are family friendly, more resort like and the diving is mostly very easy. But there's almost no fish over 1m and lots of divers. The only dive I thought was worth doing more than once was Shark Point, west side of Trawangan. It was the only site I dived that had plentiful numbers of fish, but it also had a ripping current and most of the other divers got blown off the site both times I did it. I liked the Japanese wreck too, but once is enough. Blue Marlin is a nice operation, good restaurant, good value. There is apparently some very good diving on the North side of Lombok, about 1.5 hrs from Trawangan by fast boat that Simon, the owner, told me they had just discovered, with reliable sightings of large pelagics and sharks. Blue Marlin is also a good place to do tech training/tmix if you are interested. Simon is a very experienced tech/rebreather diver and there's plenty of deep walls farther out, with very little current, on which to do some easy, deep tmix dives.
As for a more family friendly resort in Indo with better diving, nothing comes to mind, so maybe it's the best choice for your situation. -Andy