Alor; Wakatobi or Kri Eco Resort

[Manta Man]

Hi All,
Just trying to get info on Alor. First, does anyone know the cost/flight schedule from Kupang to Alor, second has anyone stayed in the Nufrita Bungalows in Kalabahi Bay, offered with Alor-Dive, or elsewhere in the area, and could give me an honest opinion on staying there? Is Kalabahi a quite relaxing beach front kind of place or a noisey motorbike ridened type of area? It seems like most of the 3 dive operators in Alor seem ok, at least if you check the web sites, but any first hand advice about who/who not to dive with would be great too. My choices are Alor-Dive-cheapest & best boat, DiveAlor (with Donavan) for his experience in the area and Alordivers on Pantar they seem to have the nicest accom/location but perhaps maybe not so experienced in the area? How long would a recommended stay be? We have 3 weeks in Indo this Aug.

Cheers

MM

 

[silent running]

Hi All,
Just trying to get info on Alor. First, does anyone know the cost/flight schedule from Kupang to Alor, second has anyone stayed in the Nufrita Bungalows in Kalabahi Bay, offered with Alor-Dive, or elsewhere in the area, and could give me an honest opinion on staying there? Is Kalabahi a quite relaxing beach front kind of place or a noisey motorbike ridened type of area? It seems like most of the 3 dive operators in Alor seem ok, at least if you check the web sites, but any first hand advice about who/who not to dive with would be great too. My choices are Alor-Dive-cheapest & best boat, DiveAlor (with Donavan) for his experience in the area and Alordivers on Pantar they seem to have the nicest accom/location but perhaps maybe not so experienced in the area? How long would a recommended stay be? We have 3 weeks in Indo this Aug.

Cheers

MM

Hello MM, maybe you've read my previous posts on this subject in this and other threads?

If not, I don't think anybody would describe Kalabahi as a pleasant beachfront town. If it was, I think more divers would go there and if you really like diving, be glad it's not. It's noisy and dirty, but not awful, I've seen worse towns in the SP. The people are curious and boisterous, but not unfriendly. There is not much to do in town, only one restaurant-Chinese, and we spent most of our time on the boat, so it wasn't an issue. Next time, I will go for a hike and buy some of the vanilla beans Alor is famous for.

Nufrita Bungalows is probably the new place we stayed last year, which was on the bay, far up towards the mouth of the creek. It didn't have a name yet, that's how new it was in 08'. We were the 2nd guests to stay there, the food was very good and made to order. There were no mosquito nets and no screens on the windows and saggy voltage for the A/C. It wasn't the best sleeping situation, but between the fans and sporadic A/C, we got through the nights ok. And it was damn cheap. There is also a sailor's hotel in town, which I only saw from the outside and from what I gathered, is straight out of a Joseph Conrad story.

The Donovans are certainly knowledgeable, but live in Kupang and only come to Kalabahi when they have enough divers to make the trip and rent boats from the locals, so that's an x-factor as to what you'll get when you show up. The flight from Kupang to Alor is cheap, I think it was under $30US each way or thereabouts and quite scenic, if the clouds permit.

Thomas and Alor-Dive was my choice after more emails and research than I care to remember, I was not disappointed. He's out there diving year round, on the boat every time and has certainly taken the initiative in exploring/developing more sites. His knowledge is first hand and hard earned. He has been in the dive business in Indo for a long time. This is a guy who did an exploratory drift dive in 2000+ft of blue water in Pantar Straights looking for thresher sharks and found them, that's his idea of a good time. He is a dedicated diver who loves his "work". We were there for 12 days and only dived 4 sites twice, by request. I would have done most of them twice, if we had the time. 1 week is not enough, but should give you a rough idea of how good it is.

In case you can't tell by now, I loved Alor and will return. -Andy

 

[Travelnsj]

Hi All,

Trying to narrow down my options for July this year as last minute holiday possibility came up. Unfortunately I only have a full week. So some of the lob are not possible.
EDIT I'm living in Singapore, so travel time is relative, furhtermore with a week I mean Friday to Sunday. end EDIT
I'll be traveling alone and want to go to either Alor, Wakatobi or Kri Eco.

I'm having a hard time deciding especially cause I'm not so sure about the weather conditions at these places. I don't mind a rough sea, but when I go to one of these I want to be sure to be able to dive all good sites. (thats the reason why I skipped Komodo, no LoB are running and if they run they won't go to horse shoe.

I'm looking for some bigger stuff, but I also enjoy the macro and muck. In the last years I've been to Sipadan, Lembeh (3*), Bunaken (2*), PNG and Thailand all very nice, but I want to tray something new again.

Wakatobi and Kri are "famous" for their housereef, but I'm not so sure if the big stuff will be arround. Alor is more of the beaten track and at this moment appeals the most.

For Alor I found two operators, but I'm not sure about their knowledge so I would love to hear some experiences for both eco dive resort in alor archipelago, indonesia. and divealor.com.

The good thing about the first is that they have their own resort, housereef and unlimmited diving. The other is as far as I can tell more established but doesn't have a resort / housereef.

Help is appreciated

I have been to Wakatobi and Sorido (next to Kri). Wakatobi is a great dive operation....but the diving...Yawn...I have a trip report posted in November 07. I was at Sorido-Raja Ampat twice last year....need I say more...LOL...both my trip reports are posted....the best diving I have done.....if you go to Kri...stop off at Lembeh Straits you will love it!

 

[takoyaki]

I join the discussion.
I am also in Indonesia in July (for more than 4 weeks). First I intented to go to Bali, Komodo and Alor. But I am seriously considering to skip Alor. I just talked to somebody who dived in Komodo and Alor and for him was Alor comparable with Komodo and not worth the difficult journey. He didn' see a lot of big stuff or large schools of fish. I am looking now for Komodo but is there someone who can recommend a LOB that is fairly in price? Otherwise I will do landbased diving but from this forum I learned that LOB is definetely better for Komodo. I heard als good things of diving in Sumbawa (Moyo island) but I cannot find any operators. Any experiences?

I actually worked for a liveaboard that does these areas. I cannot recommend my boat, as it is not dive-dedicated. But I often did fun diving with friends who have boats in the area and have been on most of them. One thing to remember about Komodo: Experience is much more important here than almost anywhere else one Earth. The currents are very complicated and dive sites change from the best dive you ever did to devoid of life in the time it takes for the current to go slack.

For Komodo: I really like Moana. For the price it is the best because the cabins are en suite and have A/C. The dive master they have, Rudi, is very knowledgeable about the area and does a good job of reading the currents; an essentialskill for this area. The Seven Seas is by far the best dive boat around... IF you can get on her; they are nearly fully booked all the time. The Mona Lisa has years of experience in the area and guests are always happy. There is a new boat called Samata that is gorgeous and they are billing themselves as super-dive-oriented; but I have not been on her for a trip. I do know that their cruising speed will be an issue... too slow! Other boats: Duyung - too funky, only one toilet and not well set up; Pascha - sometimes good, sometimes bad.. depends on the owners mood; same goes for Ari Jaya; Cheng Ho (Kararu) - very big, but has had some problems with electrical safety and leaking; Mermaid - typical steel boats well set up for US divers with cameras, serves good Thai food. There are new boats coming on line regularly, but experienced captain and dive master are the key.

For land-based, you should be aware that Labuan Bajo is not exactly a nice place to hang out and the day boats are limited by range and currents. If you do decide to go this route, I recommend Dive Komodo for knowledge and gear. Bajo Dive Club is also quite knowledgeable, but there have been some issues with air quality... a big no-no in my book. ReefSeekers are the ones who lost 5 divers for 2 days last year. (lucky they didn't end up dead!) The new outfit, Laguna, in the Bintang Flores Hotel will simply not have the necessary knowledge of Komodo to guarantee you see it in its full glory.

That's my take on it.