Alor is spoken of in hushed tones amongst diving divers. few locations on earth have such a plethora of reef fish as well as have amassed such healthy as well as lively coral reefs as this mid-sized island in far eastern Indonesia.
Although currents can be strong at times, it’s the movement in the seas that draws in such big numbers of fish. Alor boasts a few of the very best exposure for divers in the world, so the colours of the fish as well as coral truly come to life, even below a depth of 15 meters.
I just recently had the chance to go diving diving in Indonesia for 2 weeks with the Ministry of tourism Indonesia as well as terrific Indonesia. I can honestly state that it was one of the most legendary trips I’ve ever done!
The “Trip of Wonders” as it was called, took us to 3 different dive places all across Indonesia. Alor Island was our very first stop as well as it quickly had the clearest water as well as healthiest coral life of the entire trip. In this post I’m going to describe the logistics of planning a dive trip to Alor to ensure that you as well can experience the extraordinary diving in this region.
Indonesia is frequently mentioned as having the very best diving diving in the world as well as lots of of the top 100 dive sites are found in the azure waters of the Coral Triangle.
NOTE: Don’t miss our Diving in Alor video at the bottom of this post!
The finest Dive sites in Alor
There are actually lots of dive sites to select from around Alor. We handled to in shape in 6 incredible dives in 3 days, however you might quickly spend a week as well as not see all of the sites on offer here. below I’ve provided a few of my favourites.
Babylon
You won’t want to miss this one! A shallow reef wall drops off to 28 meters, with a lot of of the action happening between 15 – 25 meters. The coral as well as fish life right here is bewildering as well as there are numberous picture chances for both macro as well as wide-angle lenses.
I’ve most likely never seen so lots of different types of reef fish in one place. In the shallows here, you may be lucky sufficient to see Bubu fishermen retrieving catches from their standard bamboo woven traps.
Check out this quick video of the standard fishing techniques of the Bubu fishermen.
Mike’s Delight
Another great dive site, Mike’s pleasure is a sluggish drift dive (depending on currents) reaching a maximum of 25 meters. We saw 5 sea snakes, lobster, lion fish, tons of box fish as well as many other reef fish.
Aquarium
The aptly named aquarium is most likely the most visually sensational dive in Alor. The amount of fish right here rivals Babylon, however the clearness of the water as well as the colour of the coral is just spectacular. The dive site is along a decrease off that goes down to around 30 meters.
Clown Valley
Another dive site that’s properly named, clown valley is understood for having the greatest concentration of sea enenomes anywhere in the world. Not surprisingly, there are likewise many clown fish who discover sanctuary in the persuading tentacles of the brilliantly colored soft corals.
You’ll actually see numerous clown fish on this dive.
School’s Out
This dive site gets its name because, depending upon what time you surface your dive, the kids from a close-by institution in the village frequently come down to greet the divers! They swim down as deep as they can with their hand carved wooden goggles as well as play in the divers’ bubbles. A genuinely incredible dive experience.
On top of charming kids, School’s Out dive site uses a gorgeous sluggish decrease to 30 meters with lots of soft corals, sharks, octopus as well as of course, an uncountable number of reef fish. Again, the population of little fish on these reefs in Alor is genuinely spectacular.
Kal’s Dream
This is stated to be the very best dive site in Alor as well as unfortunately, because of currents, we had to avoid it! Kal’s dream is a stunning, coral-crusted sea install where you frequently discover big pelagic. The sea install is named after Kal Mueller, the popular author of “Underwater Indonesia” as well as “Diving Indonesia”.
Things To understand about Diving in Alor
The primary thing you requirement to understand about diving in Alor is that the currents right here can be ferocious as well as lots of of the dive sites are inaccessible from time to time because of strong currents. Whirlpools frequently swirl in the waters around right here as well as get sufficient force to sink huge cargo ships.
Diving with a reliable dive shop is very crucial you must understand that your dive plans will likely modification because of conditions. Don’t force it, depend on your dive guide as well as you will be totally risk-free diving here.
We dove with Pulo Alor. Donnovan (an Australian dive trainer who has been diving Alor for 18 years) was our dive guide as well as he was safety-focused, expert as well as fun to hang out with. We extremely suggest seeking him out.
I extremely suggest having a dive computer when diving diving, for many reasons. Dive computers track your movements, exactly how deep you are, exactly how long you’ve been down as well as exactly how quick you can ascend. rather than having to figure out your no-decompression time yourself, the computer handles that. As a bonus, it logs your dives. get a dive computer as well as take pleasure in a safer time under water.
Another thing that you must understand about diving in Alor is that the nearest decompression chamber is in Bali, so it’s crucial that your travel insurance coverage totally covers all of your diving dangers including airlifting with a decompression chamber onboard. world Nomads covers many adventurous activities, including diving diving.
Here is some info from the world Nomads website:
Scuba Diving & travel Insurance
If you want to diving dive on your travels, we absolutely comprehend why. however if you’re not appropriately trained before you dive into your underwater adventure, the danger of severe mishap can be substantial. That’s why, to be covered you either must:
be certified, that is, hold a valid diving diving licence
dive under qualified as well as licensed direction if not certified
dive no deeper than your dive permit enables and/or your policy allows
What we cover
Recreational diving diving is only covered when you select the ideal plan or experience sport choice when getting your policy . Then, if something goes wrong there’s cover for:
Overseas medical costs for unexpected health problem or severe injury
Medical evacuation to the nearest facility for treatment
Treatment in a decompression chamber if required
Repatriation house if something severe has happened
To get a complimentary travel insurance coverage quote from world Nomads, just go into your info below:
The finest method to prevent getting the bends without any decompression chamber close-by is to dive well within the limitations of the dive tables as well as begin the day with your deepest dive, progressively getting shallower with each dive that follows. It’s likewise a great concept to dive with a dive computer. I utilize as well as suggest Aqua Lung i200.
Click right here to see the current cost on Amazon.
Getting To Alor (And Back)
It’s quite simple to get to Alor by flight from Bali with a stopover in Kupang KOE. The overall flight time will be around 3 – 3.5 hours as well as the airlines will likely be Lion as well as Wings (both of which were fine in my experience). You can likewise fly by means of Meumere (MOF) as well as then hop on a liveaboard with Alor from there.
The flight expense will likely be around $175 USD return, depending upon the season you fly in.
Comming from Jakarta, Surabaya or Denpasar (Bali) you reach Alor by means of Kupang (West Timor). Kupang is serviced by different airline business (Garuda, Lion Air as well as Sriwijaya Air) daily.
TransNusa as well as Wings Air offer everyday flights from Kupang to Alor.
Accommodation in Alor
There aren’t that lots of choices for lodging in Alor as well as Booking,com as well as HostelWorld don’t even listing it for their hotels. We stayed at Pulo Alor Hotel, which was decent, however you can likewise discover great locations on AirBnB. If you click that link you’ll get a complimentary travel credit score from Goats On The road to go towards your very first booking.
After declaring your complimentary travel credit score from the Goats, Click right here to see what’s offered on the island of Alor with AirBnB.
Costs Of Diving in Alor
If you opt for DiveAlorDive.com, they have a ton of different bundles on offer, including lodging as well as dive packages, multi-dive bundles or single fun dive rates. Click right here to checked out their in-depth cost sheet for 2017.
As an example, a 5 day 4 night bundle including 4 nights in Alor Hotel, 3 days of boat diving with 2 dives each day as well as 3 meals each day will expense 9 million rupiyah, which is about $675 USD at the time of writing. other dive rates are in the link above.
Why Dive Alor
If you like having fantastic exposure as well as take pleasure in exceptionally colourful dive sites, Alor is for you. Out of the three dive places we experienced on the trip Of Wonders (Alor, Komodo & Raja Ampat), Alor absolutely had the clearest water as well as the brightest coral.
Had we seen Kal’s dream dive site, I would’ve likely been raving about it as it’s where you’re a lot of likely to see the huge stuff! regrettably we didn’t make it there, however the diving was so great in Alor that I’ll return soon as well as ideally have the chance to dive Kal’s Dream.
Special thanks to The Ministry of tourism Indonesia as well as terrific Indonesia for putting together this extraordinary container listing dive trip as well as inviting “The Goats” to take part!
Diving In Alor Video
If you have any type of concerns about diving in Alor, Indonesia, please feel complimentary to get in touch with me by clicking here.
Like This Article? Pin it!
Disclaimer:Goats On The road is an Amazon partner as well as likewise an affiliate for some other retailers. This indicates we make commissions if you click links on our blog as well as purchase from those retailers.