Any opinions on Alor?

[AlMitch]

I know the Aston, that's where I am staying when going to Ambon. It's still 40 minutes car ride from the city and 1 hour ride from Laha muck sites. On the other hand they will be located very closely to the south coast sites like Hukurila caves. Their location makes it ideal to cater diving for Lease island group (Nusa Laut, Saparua, Molana), though it will be quite uneasy for Ambon Bay.

I had heard of a new dive centre opening end of 2013, I was wondering who'd manage the centre. It seems the managers are the previous managers of KBR in Lembeh, who btw are serious photographers. That's the good news.

The less good news is that the 200$ package they propose are all inclusive at the Aston, which is just a nightmare when it comes to food and service. The Hotel is supposed to be a 4* the best in Ambon but to be honest each time I am going there I am prepared to voice and shout 2 or 3 times before I can get anything I want.
In the end, I always rent a driver in order to drive me to BRD in the morning or go out for dinner downtown. It's a pity that a 4* hotel is not able to cater acceptable food while Molucca is probably the best area in Indonesia for dining. Ask once for grilled fish with colo colo, smoked tuna, eggplant in Kenari almond sauce, take a special coffee at Joas with fried breadfruit and you'll understand what I mean.

Apparenetly they have a boat docked quite near to the hotel in the bay, so the car time is minimised. How long do you recon it would take to get from the end of the bay to Laha by boat?
I read up on the Aston on Trip Advisor and there are many reviews that match exactly what you say about food and service at the hotel. 4* price 2* service is what someone said.
Maybe the owners will be able to shake the Hotel into shape. Here's hoping for their sake.

It is very well situated to the blue water South Coast dives, and they would be silly not to offer day trips out to Molana or Nusa Laut.

 

[Luko]

Apparenetly they have a boat docked quite near to the hotel in the bay, so the car time is minimised. How long do you recon it would take to get from the end of the bay to Laha by boat?

Boat near to the hotel means a minimum of 20/25mn car ride.
From the end of the bay to airport/Laha which are located very close it takes another a 30 minutes car ride, it's a very long bay. I believe it would take more than half an hour by boat.

Maybe the owners will be able to shake the Hotel into shape

hahahaha... sorry, that was nervous.:d (you wouldn't imagine! after three stays I am now accustomed and leave it on the ironic side)

 

[jake11]

Check out the Dewi Nusantara. They run a trip that includes Alor as one of the destinations. We did a Komodo, Alor, Wakatobi trip last year around this time and it was stellar! The active volcano in Alor ( Kumba??) was Amazing!! Clown valley is gorgeous and the muck diving was awesome! Have fun!

 

[LiquidGuru]

Hi guys,

I'm the owner of the new diving place, Dive into Ambon, in Ambon. I just want to clarify a couple of points.

Yes, we have a bus ride to Ambon Bay, where we have a day boat. The ride is less than 15 minutes and we have built a private jetty in Ambon Bay in a village called Lateri. The boat is covered, fast, has a charging stations for camera batteries, hot towels, wifi etc. We do three dives, with lunch on board. We have tried to make it as comfortable as possible. If I'm going to do three dives I want to be happy

We have two boats on the south side, n front of the Aston. We will be diving around the south side, Haruku and hopefully introducing some great new sites. Those who know us know we love muck, but we also want to offer clear water diving too. We will generally dive muck one day, blue water the next, giving you access to macro and WA.

Food....yes, I hear you on this. We are making a new menu, working with a new chef and are going to make the food much better. We're working with both the owner of the hotel and the management group and this is top priority. As was pointed out, we worked at KBR for 3 years and the food there was good. We want to food to be very good at the Aston too. We are helping them with all aspects of the hotel to improve and bring the standards up. It is important, as ever, to remember that Ambon is remote, but we are trying to make things much better.

We are trying our hardest to make a great diving experience in Ambon. We've been here for 5 months now, setting things up, building the dive centre. It's a lovely place, the Aston is in a great location, out of town, lovely views, big rooms....hopefully it can offer a lot.

Cheers,

Kaj

 

[AlMitch]

Yes, we have a bus ride to Ambon Bay, where we have a day boat. The ride is less than 15 minutes and we have built a private jetty in Ambon Bay in a village called Lateri. The boat is covered, fast, has a charging stations for camera batteries, hot towels, wifi etc. We do three dives, with lunch on board. We have tried to make it as comfortable as possible. If I'm going to do three dives I want to be happy

We have two boats on the south side, n front of the Aston. We will be diving around the south side, Haruku and hopefully introducing some great new sites. Those who know us know we love muck, but we also want to offer clear water diving too. We will generally dive muck one day, blue water the next, giving you access to macro and WA.

Hey Kaj, it was good to meet you at Adex.
How long does it take for you to get from your bay jetty to Laha area?
You say one day you do muck and the other you do the south side, is this because you have limited guides/ boat captains and cant run both at the same time?
Will you be offering day trips out to Molana and Nusa Laut?

Glad to hear you are trying to whip the hotel into shape, because the reviews that I've read are not very flattering.
Good luck with the opening.

 

[LiquidGuru]

Hey Kaj, it was good to meet you at Adex.
How long does it take for you to get from your bay jetty to Laha area?
You say one day you do muck and the other you do the south side, is this because you have limited guides/ boat captains and cant run both at the same time?
Will you be offering day trips out to Molana and Nusa Laut?

Glad to hear you are trying to whip the hotel into shape, because the reviews that I've read are not very flattering.
Good luck with the opening.

The furthest muck sites in Ambon Bay will take about an hour from our jetty (Laha area and past). So will do three dives in that area..we can run boats on both sides, no problems. There is great small stuff on the south side too, so we want to vary the sites and sides as much as possible. Lunch will be on the boats. We have BBQ on the boats, so should be good food. The boats will have max 10pax, so if more divers than that, one boat will be in Ambon Bay, the other doing south side. The wreck in Ambon Bay is only about 20 minutes or less from our jetty.

Molana may be a little far to go. We will be running normal day trips to Haruku. Nusa Laut may be a little far for a normal trip, but we will definitely offer longer trips with a small fuel surcharge. We've many sites on the south side to explorer close to Baguala Bay, where we are, including some sea mounds, hot underwater springs (where you can cook your own eggs) and some new muck sites.

The Aston is really a lovely hotel. The food and service is being changed and vastly improved...we hope everyone will notice a big difference. I know the way to a happy diver is often through their stomachs! And I've got to eat there too, so it is very important to us.

We are really excited to be the first dive centre in the Baguala Bay area. There is a lot of potential. We even hear (no promises yet) that there are Dugong around, so are looking forward to looking for those.

Thanks for the kind words and hope to see you here some time.

All the best

Kaj

 

[Luko]

The wreck in Ambon Bay is only about 20 minutes or less from our jetty.

Does it mean Laha/Twilight zone sites are more than 30 minutes away from the jetty?

The food and service is being changed and vastly improved...we hope everyone will notice a big difference.

Good luck, you've probably noticed Maluku isn't North Sulawesi.
Best regard to Ulysse, he's probably one of the very few guys who understood what customer service is.

 

[jcalheiroslobo]

I stayed in Alor last year, at Alor Divers Resort.
Very good diving, lots of different dive sites, lots of little fishes, and some pelagics(saw a lot of sharks in current alley).
Lots of current. Very good visibility.
We saw a blue whale( at surface), lots of dolphins.
Best muck dives ever (and I have been in Lembeh twice).
All the time we had the dive sites to ourselves - I had just returned from Komodo, where the best sites were crowded...
IMO all considered, the best dive location I have ever been (I have been in Lembeh, Manado, Komodo, Bali, Wakatobi, Sipadan, Maldives...).
Joao

 

[tboxcar]

Sounds like alot of you have dove many places in Indo, has anyone been to South Lombok and Belongas Bay, 'The Magnet' or the more mild side at Sekotong near Gili Asahan for macro. Although Alor does sounds interesting..

 

[LiquidGuru]

Does it mean Laha/Twilight zone sites are more than 30 minutes away from the jetty?

Good luck, you've probably noticed Maluku isn't North Sulawesi.
Best regard to Ulysse, he's probably one of the very few guys who understood what customer service is.

Sorry for the late reply..been very busy with our first group.

Laha/twilight is around 45 minutes from the jetty. We have an 18m boat, fully covered, charging stations etc etc and we bring a good lunch with us. We do 3 (or 4) dives, then return. It's pretty comfortable. No complaints so far

sent from somewhere