Alor Trip report (repost)

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Bora_Horza

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Location
Sweden
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Hi all, this is a repost of a trip report that was lost when the servers crashed a few months ago. Not that much about Alor on Scubaboard, so here it is (again)..

…Thought I’d put together a trip report from my time in Alor, Indonesia over Easter 2007. Alor is a rugged, relatively undeveloped island in the east of Indonesia, and has some wonderful diving.

I arrived in Denpassar, Bali, then flew to Labuanbajo, Flores to dive in the Komodo National Park (my third time there). I’ve already posted a trip report about this part of my holiday at Scubaboard; you can read it here: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=190078 if interested.

After 12 days in Labuanbajo I took a 4 hour minibus to Ruteng, and then flew to Kupang, West Timor.

I was only meant to be in transit through Kupang, but due to various circumstances (I missed my connection due to some misunderstandings) I ended up spending 2 days in this actually quite sleepy city.

Not masses of things to do in Kupang, but interesting in its own way. I spent a good few hours at Lavalon bar / restaurant, on the seafront reading books and drinking ice cold beers (a number of Aussie expats frequent this establishment in the afternoons and evenings, and Edwin, the owner knows how to keep his customers satisfied!) Edwin is also a good source of information if you’re there for a few days. I enjoyed buzzing round the city on ojeks (motorcycle taxis) for 5000 Rupiah a go (about 35 pence), and the bemos (minivan transportation) are also interesting, as they’re highly decorated with elaborate transfers across the windows, some of them totally X rated! Very funny to see!

And then I flew on to Alor for a bit of diving. Unfortunately I only had 4 days this time, as I had to meet a friend back in Bali, but I had a blast while there.

Arriving in Kalabahi I got a car up to the village of Alor Kecil (a 40 minute trip costing 50,000 Rupiah / £3) then the boat across to the little island of Pulau Kepa. I stayed at La P’tite Kepa, a great little resort, managed by a French couple Cedric and Ann (see Diving & Accommodation in the heart of Alor archipelago and Welcome to www.alor-diving.com , website dedicated to UW pictures of La P'tite Kepa Divers ! - Alor Diving for the dive shop part of their business). Good food and funky traditional Alorese style bungalows. They have a basic dive shop, with compressors, tanks and a selection of wetsuits, etc. It costs 100,000 Rupiah (about 7 quid) a night, and that includes 3 meals a day. Here are a few photos I took around the island:

View from then pier
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La Petite Kepa resort from the boat
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Clouds over Ternate island
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Alor has beautiful diving, and great viz when I was there with spectacular corals and walls and lots of interesting critters – frogfish of many colours, crocodile snake eels, electric clams, pygmy seahorses, seasnakes, and the list goes on. Also some fierce currents!

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S_White_Frogfish.jpg



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Initially I was a little concerned as there didn’t seem to be as many big fish as I saw around Komodo, but on the last of the 7 dives I did there we saw 3 hammerhead sharks cruising by, so that was alright!

S_Alor_wall2.jpg


Some fascinating views from the boat as we sailed to the dive sites – pods of dolphins, and big feeding frenzies with 1m+ yellowfin tuna torpedoing out the water feeding on smaller fish, and all the crazy currents and whirlpools.

S_Alor_soft_corals.jpg


There’s an interesting phenomenon which occurs in the channel between Palau Kepa and the Alor mainland. When the tides are running strongly, especially at new or full moon, the water looks like a river in full flood. And you can get some VERY cold water upwelling into the channel, changing the temperature from around 28°C down to about 14°C! This can stun the fish in the channel, and all the locals go out in their boats with little nets and just scoop up all the comatose fish… Quite a carnival atmosphere!

We returned from a dive while this was happening, and there were also lots of dolphins taking full advantage of this feast. Then we saw the fin of a big mola mola (sunfish) out in the channel. Cool! We decided to try snorkeling with the dolphins as they were so close to shore. My mate Chris went in first, and straight away he turned to me and said ‘better put your wetsuit on!’ So I suited up, borrowed a snorkel and in I went. Cold! I swam out a bit further. Extremely cold! I could feel my bones beginning to ache. I persevered and did get a short time where I could watch the dolphins while snorkeling then it was back to shore to warm up in the sun!

I took this photo at midday of the channel – even though it was blazing sunshine you can see a low fog on the water, caused by the cold water condensing the moisture out of the hot humid air.

s_Alor_fog.jpg
 
I’d visited Alor before in 2004, but the dive shop wasn’t operating at that time, so it was snorkeling trips only. A couple of photos from that time below:

small_Boats3.jpg


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Some divesites had current, and the strategy was to stay low to the bottom and hang onto rocks and look up at all the fish action, then move on 10 meters and stop again, etc. If you didnt do this you'd shoot past the 'good stuff', and the dive would be over too soon.

The unexpected can happen. Sometimes weird stuff happens. We did one wall dive which started in a straight forward fashion, but then the currents switched and turned on in seconds! One moment calmly drifting, the next.. whoosh!! Some current was over and down the wall - I watched my air bubbles swirling like a tornado out in the blue, and not going up - some just holding there, and some going down. We were OK, sheltering behind coral heads and keeping low on the coral, but we moved into the shallows and finished the dive soon after. Very exciting!

There are *also* dive sites that are ideal for new divers, nice coral gardens or slopes with little / no current because the tides are well understood.

For non diving activities, going on snorkeling boat trips to the different islands and bays is fun, or checking out the various markets at the villages, or there might be a festival while you’re there (or just chilling is good). Got to admit I never did much of this stuff myself, but I chatted with others who did.

To get there fly Bali > Kupang, a few airlines do this, ask at a travel agents in Bali, then fly Kupang > Alor with Trans Nusa (Transnusa ), they have a downloadable PDF timetable here http://www.transnusa.co.id/data/File/Time Table Eng.pdf . Merpati also fly this route twice a week I believe.

And a few more pics :wink:


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s_alor_snappers.jpg



s_Wall_Diver_Alor.jpg


Some general advice:
1) Book your flights ASAP after you arrive as the flights can get full (especially to Alor, as the plane is not that big).
2) Once booked, reconfirm regularly, I’ve encountered 2 cancelled flights, but the office staff were great and sorted out alternatives for me so all ended well.
3) Stay flexible, and get back to Bali or wherever your international flight back from is at least 3 days beforehand, as delays and cancellations do occasionally happen.

Anyway, this part of Indonesia is a great place to explore, with friendly people. I had an excellent time there. Take it easy all…
 

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