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home / destination / Indonesia / alor

Indonesia Capital : Djakarta
Language : Indonesian

Currency : Rupiah (indonésie)
Time zone UTC : +7



09h30

Dive trip Alor

Stay, Diving holidays in Indonesia, on the island Alor

Can you imagine yourself in a wooden bungalow, open to the four winds, on a wild beach, in the middle of a volcanic archipelago of high mountains flowing directly into the Flores Sea, roaring with a muffled current?Welcome to the Alor archipelago, one of the most isolated and quiet places in Indonesia, in the heart of the small islands of the Eastern Sunda (Nusa Tenggara).Alor and Pantar are the 2 most important islands, surrounded by 14 other small islands, of which only 9 are inhabited, including Pura, Ternate, Treweng, Buayah, Kepa.Alor has remained isolated for a long time because there was no direct plane until now.Now you can reach by plane, the capital of the archipelago, a city of 200.000 inhabitants, Kalabahi from the cities of Kupang in Timor, Denpasar in Bali and Surabaya on the island of Java, with a luggage limit of 10 kg per person.Of course, dive cruise boats also leave from Maumere on the island of Flores.

Diving holidays in the Alor archipelago take place in a very preserved natural environment, without human pollution.Instead, beautiful hikes are made with a guide, in the middle of steep and conical mountains, to meet communities living in harmony.In West Pantar, discover an active volcano, Sirung, with hot springs and waterfalls.Your eyes get lost here in a panorama of mountains covered with dry savannah due to the deforestation of tropical forests and small rugged islands in the middle of an immense ocean.The strait between Alor and Pantar is a great place for diving.Expect great drift dives along steep drop-offs and impressive pinnacles with coral reefs bursting with life.And with good reason, as the powerful currents, you see swirling across the surface of the strait from the boat drain the mountain walls deep below the water.These walls explode with hard, layered, flowering corals, sponge fingers and scrolls, tubes, and orange and red gorgonians.

You can see reef sharks, schools of barracudas, turtles, and occasionally you make incongruous encounters with mola mola and thresher sharks.Quiet dives also take place under village pontoons along the coast, allowing muck diving.Incredible creatures such as ghost pipefish, mandarin fish, frogfish, scorpionfish, blue-ringed octopus, Harlequin shrimp, and nudibranchs can be seen half-buried in mud, gravel and black sand, making them a delight for macro photographers.This destination is more for experienced divers but there is always a quiet spot for those who are just starting out and want to take an Open Water Diver.

Marine species in the area

Dive sites

Alor's administration works with local communities to promote conservative fishing and hunting techniques by following a policy of preserving natural environments.By conserving the archipelago's magnificent biodiversity, this should encourage the development of ecotourism.From Alor and Pantar, you have access to 20 very popular diving spots. The destination is ideal for photographers and experienced divers.The fauna of sunfish, hammerhead sharks, thresher sharks, whales, and marlins. present in the Pantar Strait causes incredible encounters unfortunately very occasional.

Divers also come across other more frequent pelagic species at the whim of the tides such as giant trevallies, reef sharks, barracudas, eagle rays, and dogtooth tuna.And of course, depending on the site, there are also napoleons, turtles and giant groupers.Very large rocky drop-offs with vertical walls, covered with a great diversity of corals and soft coral, border the Strait of Pantar.Drift dives take place through schools of fusiliers and swarms of sergeant-majors.French Window, is located in front of the beach of a small French resort and is its house reef!Take a beautiful drift dive above a steep slope ending in an extraordinary coral garden of colors and shapes.Then, in 30 minutes of navigation, the boat reaches Babylon, a straight drop-off, near a village.Red Wall is worth the detour for the colors of this magnificent drop-off.The hard and soft coral abounds in an incredible exuberance.

Further north, around Ternate, the clipped drop-offs abound with caves and overhangs.In 2 hours of navigation, make a night dive in Gost Town to discover tiny and very rare creatures.This is a great place to muck dive in the sedimentary bays in front of the village jetties.Each village, located at the bottom of a small cove, has underwater objects thrown by the villagers and lying on the muddy bottom in front of its beach, which has only light currents.This waste such as a yogurt pot, a used shoe, a piece of rope, constitute a microcosm, an infinity of tiny artificial reefs where animals come to shelter. Muddy bottoms cause poor visibility but the nutrients suspended in the water feed the fry of crustaceans and fish. Photographers come to Indonesia from all over the world to find in a few dives what they would take years to find elsewhere.

This is the opportunity here to make beautiful macro photography with Rhinopias, mimetic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin shrimps, razorfish, Banggai cardinalfish, pegasus fish, frogfish and seahorses. Coleman shrimp find refuge among the venomous spines of sea urchins.
The piercing eyes of the local dive guides spot these incredible creatures including nudibranchs and set them in motion with their stainless steel rods before the eyes of the divers. When you reach the ends of these bays, you can feel the current getting stronger.
Nevertheless, all levels of divers have access to this type of diving.

For example, take to the water in front of the tiny Pay Yan village where a beautiful white church stands, above a beach of small gravel where tiny little creatures burrow.
A solidified lava flow has extended into the water at Pay Yan Deep and, although the visibility isn't great, fish are coming in from everywhere.
At the other end of the village, then immerse yourself under the staked piles of soft coral clusters and gorgonians at the large ferry jetty at Pay Yan Jetty. The sun's rays play between the barrels as if in a forest, with games of light and shade, where solitary fish pass by.
At Pura Island at dusk, mandarin fish stand at the edge of their holes.

The sea is generally cooler south of Pantar. The reefs are covered with soft coral with many nudibranchs.
You could dive all year round in the archipelago, but tourist facilities close from January to the end of February due to heavy rains.
The best period for a diving holiday in Alor is during the dry season, from June to October.
Visibility reaches 40 meters and the average water temperature is 28°C, although in some places thermoclines drop to 25°C or even 20°C.
The climate of the Alor archipelago is relatively dry for most of the year, with few mosquitoes. The risk of contracting malaria remains very low.

Others Activities


Alor : Dive shops

 

Dragon Dive Komodo
Indonesia  - Labuan Bajo
FrenchEnglishGermanItalianSpanishIndonesian

Dragon Dive Komodo hotel is located in a quiet corner of the main Marina area in Labuan Bajo, Fores Island, Indonesia. You are just a stone's throw from the town center, with the night market and the main port of embarkation to the Komodo Islands. Nice beaches are 6 km away, a 20-minute drive by scooter. Open all year round, the Dragon Dive Komodo training center offers PADI courses from Discover Scuba Diver tonight, side-mount and photo diving specialties. Sessions take place either in the pool, on day trips, or onboard the cruise ship. The best thing to do is to stay at the Dragon Dive Komodo as 18 double private rooms of 20 to 30 m2, reserved for divers. They are equipped with a double or twin bed, a private bathroom with hot water, air-conditioning, and laundry service on-site for your personal belongings, either overlooking the pool or the backyard. Breakfast is served in the restaurant around the pool. The bar is a great place to meet and mingle with other guests and enjoy fruit juice, mixology famous cocktails, or a cold Bintang beer on your way back from a day of diving. A meal with Asian and Western specialties is served on-site in the evening. The next morning we depart at 7 am for a full day of 2 to 3 dives in the Komodo National Park. The groups are composed of 4 to 5 divers for more safety and conviviality. The last dive is replaced at your request by a trek to Rinca Island to discover the Komodo dragons. Non-divers have the possibility to snorkel and wakeboard. Do you have 5 days to spare? Go on the Dragon Dive Shenron cruise boat. [+]

  • Accomodations and diving
  • Cultural world heritage of the UNESCO
  • Welcome groups
From 28,78 €

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La P’tite Kepa Diving & Bungalows
Indonesia  - Pulau Kepa
FrenchEnglish

P'tite Kepa is located in the Alor archipelago, east of Indonesia. Anne and Cédric offer accommodation in about ten ecological bungalows with bamboo walls and thatched roofs. You have different standards, from the collective hut with shared outdoor toilets to more comfortable bungalows equipped with a large terrace facing the sea. The main house, open to the sea, allows you to have a drink, to share your meals with the boarders like table d'hôtes, and to exchange your impressions of the day in a family atmosphere. Go to small beaches to relax or go to the nearby village to immerse yourself in the local culture of the Alor islands. Count on 2 dives a day on a light wooden speedboat, spacious enough with a deck for sunbathing with tea and coffee during the surface interval. The dive sites are accessible after a 2 to 40-minute sail from Kepa. You dive from the shore, on the House reef, paying only for the filling of your block. The capacity of the structure being 10 to 12 divers, a small team of 2 to 4 instructors and divemasters will accompany a group of up to 4 divers. The nearest recompression chamber is in Denpasar on the island of Bali, no decompression diving is mandatory. In the middle of unspoiled nature, you will dive in beautiful underwater landscapes including remarkable drop-offs, underwater valleys, shallows, pinnacles, and small bays suitable for muck diving where nudibranchs, leaf fish, frogfish, and mandarin fish will be immortalized by macro photography. You will encounter incredible biodiversity with a profusion of hard corals of all shapes, soft corals with extraordinary colors. It is possible to come across dog-toothed tuna, giant groupers, napoleons, eagle rays, and even hammerhead sharks in the corner with sometimes a mola-mola flapping from the fin to the surface of the sea. [+]

  • Accomodations
  • Friendly atmosphere
  • Located close to the dive sites
From 0,00 €

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Alor Divers
Indonesia  - Tim
FrenchEnglish

Alor Divers is located on the island of Alor, in the middle of the Sunda Islands. It's a nice diving resort on the edge of the Pantar Strait, lined with a fabulous House reef, French Window, that you will ride at the speed of a galloping horse! The resort is composed of 7 bungalows of 36m2, each spaced 20 meters apart and built in the traditional Indonesian architectural style. These wooden buildings have natural ventilation to keep the interior cool, without the need for air conditioning. The spacious private terraces have sea views! You take your meals prepared with local products, at the common table of a huge room, sheltered by a roof, in the open air. The capacity of the resort is 14 divers with 4 divers for a guide. There is no limit to the number of dives you can make from the House Reef, with fast boats designed for diving and each dive site is explored by its own boat. There is no extra charge if you travel alone. The diving center is designed for photographers with a space reserved for them with 220v electrical outlets to charge the batteries of your cameras. You can store your diving equipment in a permanently locked room. Do not hesitate to take your camera in your bungalow because a large table allows its maintenance and care. The sites, located between 5 and 35 min of navigation, are chosen according to the desires of each one. They are varied and present sometimes beautiful drop-offs to see pelagic, sometimes muddy spaces under the piers of villages ideal for muck diving. The coral is intact because the area is very little dived. Alor Diver is closed from January until the end of February because of the heavy rains that flood the area. Also, note that the House reef is sometimes difficult to access in August because the beach is exposed. [+]

  • Different diving area
  • Distance to House Reef 30 to 50 m
  • Stay without a car
From 35,00 €

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