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Alor Island Diving Guide 2019

Let’s learn about Alor Island in Indonesia. It is a very suitable place for diving. If you are planning to dive, this place is really recommended. There is also information about accommodation and transportation on Alor Island. You can also learn about it. Alor's geographical location and transportation

The Alor Islands (Alor

Archipelago) are located in the east-central part of Indonesia, more than 1,000 kilometers east of Bali, and share the same latitude of 8 degrees south as Bali. It is on the volcanic belt extending eastward from Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Lombok. To the east of the Alor

Archipelago is the Ombai Strait that separates Palau Wetar and Atauro. To the south is the Ombai Strait. To the west of Timor is the Banda Sea to the north and the rest of the Sunda Islands to the west.

Arrival at Alor

Kupang (the capital of West Timor, Indonesia) is the only gateway to Alor (Palau

Alor. Indonesia's main international airports: Bali, Jakarta, and Surabaya have direct flights to Kupang every day. There are about three flights a day from Kupang to Palau

Alor, and the flight takes about 40-50 minutes. For TRANSNUSA and WINGS

AIR, the checked baggage is 10-15 kg, and the excess is not expensive. Small reminder: If the flight link between Bali-Kupang-Alor is not available, you must stay in Kupang for one night. If Jakarta or Surabaya-Kupang-Alor, buy the earliest flight and you can reach Alor on the same day.

In March 2019, it is said that a charter flight from Alor to Bali (NAM

AIR) was launched, with three flights every week on 2, 4 and 6, but tickets cannot be purchased online. There are only a small number of remaining seats that can be purchased through an agent. For details, please contact the local dive shop via email.

There is also long-distance ferry transportation, but it takes a long time. Tips: Alor Airport is very small, and flights may be canceled or delayed due to weather conditions. It is best to leave enough money for subsequent connecting flights. time.

Among Alor’s many dive shop websites, the one with the most detailed information on transportation is: /practical-information/transportations/

You can search it yourself. Alor Climate and Diving Season

The climate in Alor is tropical and has two main seasons, the dry season roughly from April to November and the rainy season from December to March.

The local temperature averages between 25-32℃, and the water temperature can vary greatly between 22-29℃.

Kecil Town in Alor, the starting point for diving

Alor’s dive shops are generally open from the end of March to the end of November. July and August have the least rainfall. However, due to the influence of the monsoon from the Banda Sea in the north, there are often big waves in the Alor Strait (Ambon and the Banda Islands in the Banda Sea are closed from July to August due to strong winds and waves). To the south is the cold current of the Indian Ocean in summer (similar to the cold water of Penida Island in Bali, South Lombok, and Komodo in summer). Therefore, in the Alor sea area from July to August, there are wind and waves from the north, cold currents from the south, and strong underwater currents. The diving conditions are very difficult, but it is also the time when the bulk of the cargo is the most abundant. Alor Diving Features and Diving Sites

Having traveled to so many places, it is really difficult to find a place with such rich and diverse diving types as Alor. The first is the possibility of big ocean cargo: hammerhead sharks, thresher sharks, molamola, eagle rays, mobula

ray, gray reef sharks, dolphins, whales, dugongs, etc., and they are not rare. Next is the healthy and pristine coral reef system with dense fish populations, which is comparable to Raja Ampat and Komodo National Park.

Finally, there is the excitement of muck

diving. Although it is not taken seriously locally, there are many species such as frog fish, dragon king, octopus, seahorse, sea slug, etc., and there are also some extremely A rare breed, but not very famous.

There are many such beautiful tiger-skin anemones in Alor

Background knowledge about Alor’s geographical location:

Indonesia Throughflow (referred to as The ITF) is the only low-latitude inter-oceanic current in the world and an important component of the oceanic thermohaline circulation. It plays an important role in changes in tropical and even global climate systems. Since the Pacific Ocean is 200mm above the mean sea level and the Indian Ocean is 100mm below the mean sea level, water is poured from the Pacific Ocean into the Indian Ocean all year round, forming the Indonesian Through Current. There is an expression for flow velocity units called Sverdrups (million cubic meters per second). It is estimated that the total amount of seawater in the Indonesian throughflow is about 15 Sverdrups.

There are three main through-flow channels in Indonesia:

1. Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok (Lombok Strait between Bali)

Lombok diving is mainly Refers to the waters of Lembongan Island and Penida Island

2. Diving in the Sape Strait between Sumbawa Komodo Island and Sumbawa Komodo mainly refers to the waters of Komodo National Park

3. Diving in the Ombai Strait between Alor Timor mainly refers to the strait between Alor Island, Pura Island and Pantar Island

The Indonesian through-flow brings rich seawater and food , and large cruising creatures.

The diving areas of the Alor Islands mainly refer to:

1. The strait between Palau Alor and Pantar Island, 2. The large area in the middle of the strait. The island of Pura, and the surrounding areas of several small islands, 3. In the bay of Palau

Alor, around Kalabahi. There are about 50 dive sites in total.

I dived in Alor for 8 days, 19 dives in one day, and went to 17 different dive sites. The water temperature was 24-28 degrees, and the visibility was 10-15m, which was not good. The local diving guide said it was because of the rainy season. It has just ended, and basically by mid-April or later, the visibility will be very good throughout the season.

Map of main diving sites in Palau Alor

Several diving sites with good impressions:

1. wolang

Cave, a key dive site, the first cave is very spacious and has exits at both ends, but we spent more than an hour playing in the cave. First, there were two huge nurse sharks sleeping, and then I saw three shark eggshells, some of which were empty. In some, the little sharks inside squirmed when the light was on. After checking the information, I found that they should be spotted bamboo shells. Shark's eggshell (Brownbanded

bamboosharkegg

case). There are also many creatures in the cave, such as a decorative crab that is twice as big as my head, a magnificent Comet fish with a sponge on its back, which is a fish that mimics a moray eel, and many beautiful ones. nudi, but then the camera ran out of battery

If there are too many divers in this hole, or the skills are not very good, or those who are afraid of confined spaces, it may be difficult to see its excitement.

Coral reef fish in Palau Alor

2. Yellow

corner, hammerhead shark spot. I came to this dive site three times and saw two Hammerhead shark. The dive sites that dare to be called corner are generally not too bad, but the launching point is difficult to control and the current is strong, so it is only suitable for more experienced divers.

In addition, the diving site itself is very beautiful, with various yellow fish and yellow corals, mostly sea fans

Coral reef fish on Palau Alor

3 , several very beautiful reefwall dives: bamawall, theedge, the

cathedral, are all famous dive sites in Alor, with beautiful corals and fish schools. It is said to be a dive site for encountering big fish, but we did not What’s special?

The sea slugs on Palau Alor

4. My favorite is macro and junk diving: muckymosque, miniwall, limarahingbay, black

There are many sand, Rhinopias, frog fish, sea slugs, etc.

Rhinopias on Alor Island (Palau Alor)

About the tradition of local fishermen in Alor hunting thresher sharks:

One day when I went out to sea, I met a fisherman who caught a thresher shark. According to Alor’s diving guide:

Local fishermen in Alor have the tradition and skills of catching thresher sharks. The captured sharks will be sold in the market. It is said that in the straits of the Alor Islands, there are fish all year round. Thresher shark caught.

They also introduced the fishing methods of local fishermen in Alor:

The thresher shark relies on its long tail to stun small fish to catch food. This habit has been adopted by local fishermen in Alor for a long time. It is known that fishermen use 200 meters of colorful thin ropes to trick the thresher sharks into thinking it is food. Unfortunately, when the thresher sharks hit the rope with their long tails, Sometimes, they will be hooked by the hooks above, paralyzing them and unable to move.

However, when encountered in a diving shop, they will negotiate a price with the fishermen, about 500k Indonesian rupiah, and then release the thresher shark

There is an organization in Indonesia that conducts thresher shark surveys ( (called treshershark.id on Instagram), I often come to Alor, and use the skills of local fishermen to tag thresher sharks and release them

Tips:

Diving in Alor waters often happens Cold water flow, 5mm wetsuit and hood will make diving more comfortable.

alor is a boat dive. Most of the boat rides last 10-40 minutes, and you will also take breaks on the boat. Pay attention to sun protection and seasickness.