I did not love Alor for a number of reasons.
It took three flights from Jakarta aboard my least favorite airline in the world to do the trip in one day. No biggie, but I just expected so much more from the diving for the trouble. The muck diving was good, but no better than the muck in Bali, Ambon, or Lembeh. The coral was very good. We did wall dive after wall dive on very beautiful coral, so much so that I got into AFWD (Another F--king Wall Dive?) mode. Again, they were beautiful sites, but we were unlucky and there wasn't much to shoot. I kept thinking at least in Bunaken I could of been shooting turtles. Finally, it was cold...almost every dive approached 16-18 degrees. I can deal with cold if my mind is being blown, but it wasn't. We saw two black tips and one wobegong tail under the rocks all week. That was about it. I came with the hope of improving my camera skills with bigger animals, but that didnt happen. Oh... Topside Alor, Kepa, and the surrounding islands are beautiful.
I have a number of friends who LOVE Alor and think I am crazy as they loved every second of their time there. To be fair, I had a fine week, the backpacker resort where I stayed was as good as can be, and nothing at all went wrong. I have been diving long enough to know sometimes the scuba gods just are not on my`side...so it goes. I think if one researches Alor this thread is pretty typical. Some people love Alor, and some...meh.
After living in Jakarta for seven years I have been fortunate to dive pretty much everywhere in Indonesia multiple times- at least all the "major destinations." I love going to Ambon and Padang Bai. It goes without saying R4 and Komodo are mind blowing. I love Gili Air for what it is. For me, for now, Alor just isnt on my radar anymore.