Dive Review of Alor Divers Eco Resort in
Indonesia/Alor Archipelago

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Alor Divers Eco Resort: "Many Faces of Indonesia", Oct, 2023, by Bela Asztalos, MA, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 12718.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I have visited Indonesia from Bali to Irian Jaya and in between several times before. All of my trips were at least very good. So, I continued to go there. Now, to the Alor Archipelago, one of the least visited parts of Indonesia. I organized the trip with two of my old diving friends from Hungary. We chose the Alor Divers Eco Resort on Pantar Island. The price was about half of other Eco Resorts’ price in Indonesia. As everybody familiar with Indonesia dive resorts knows, the trip is long whatever part of the world you travel there from. I started from Boston. Because of the 12-hour time difference between Boston and Alor, I chose to stop in Doha for two days before arriving at Jakarta. My friends coming from Hungary flew via Istanbul. After a long wait in Jakarta, we flew to Kupang (Timor) by Batik Air and then continued to Alor with Lion Air. Even without a stopping it takes nearly two days of travel to Alor. A representative of Alor Divers waited for us and drove us through the west coast of Alor Island (an 1-hour drive) to board a small boat that transferred us through the Pantar Strate (about 45 minutes) to the resort. The sea was choppy and we were soaked in a couple of minutes after start. When we arrived, we learned that the boat anchors about 50 yards from the shore and a very small canoe transports people between boat and shore. The resort has 8 simple style wooden bungalows about 10 yards from the beach. We were lucky to get Bungalows 1 and 2, which were the closest to the dining and gathering building. Number 8 bungalow was quite a walk away. The rooms are simple but large and comfortable with a large porch. A small pass leads to the beach from each bungalow. We were briefed after arrival and learned that we start around 8 in the morning every day and if the site is close, we come back to the resort before the second dive. It happened only once. The rest of the time we did two dives from the boat and it might be a stretch to say that in the morning, because sometimes we arrived back well after lunch time. The kitchen was good, although a bit monotone by serving tuna or chicken stews in local sauces every day. There was vegetable for each meal and soup also for dinner. We always had coffee, tea, cookies and fruits (orange, pineapple and jack fruit). We could buy local beer and coke at the kitchen. Everybody with allergies was served separately by the kitchen staff. The dive operators were available for any reason all the time. The dive boat was pretty small for the 7 divers and the 3 staff. The boat had a canopy providing shade against the sun. Unfortunately, there was no place for the cameras and dry bags other than a small area on the floor just beside the captain’s foot. Our boat had 2 big camera rigs. I cannot imagine how it would have been handled if we had had 5 or 7 cameras on board. There was no place to store dry staff (dry clothes, dry cameras, glasses). Water was much calmer in the morning then in the afternoon when wind picked up regularly. Windows (time) for dive spots were organized among the several dive shops around the Pantar Straight. We always had a schedule for the next dive, but most of the time we had to change, because of difficult diving conditions (most of the time too much current). Sometimes the alternative spots were also undiveable and we had to go to plan-C. The captain of the boat and the dive masters were very good in evaluating and handling the situation under any conditions. The only place where we dove in awful condition was the Yellow Corner. The current was so much that it was hard to find a rock to hook successfully without being washed away. We had no choice, because that spot was so popular for all dive operators that there was no other time available for us. Generally, the reefs were very healthy with corrals growing in every square inch. There were hard and soft coral and sponge everywhere. The most common and photogenic staff were the soft basket star corals in every colors. What was missing is fishes in size larger than a hand. I have seen more than ten times more fish by number and species in other parts of Indonesia. The only exception in some places was the red tooth surgeon fish. However, they were very alert and kept a large distance from us. The muck dive sites (black sand which is rather gray than black) was littered with unusually few junks. However, there were also few typical muck-dive creatures. However, I enjoyed the sea pens (a feather-like soft coral) not seen in many other places. The shores of the Alor Archipelago and Pantar Island is littered with small settlements every couple of miles. People in these hamlets use the sea for gathering and hunting. At low tide, women walked the reefs with baskets on their shoulders and collected whatever they found. Males from age 7-8 fished from very small dugout canoes or spearfished wearing only wooden googles with a small plastic sheet in front, but no fins and using a homemade speargun. As we have seen, they were successful even under these primitive conditions. Several times, we have seen young boys showing their mostly small reef fishes speared in our house reef. Not surprisingly, the house reef also lacked fish abundance. In addition, fish were not only in low number, but they were very alert. It was a near impossibility to take a close photo of them. One morning going out for diving we were surrounded with a big pod of dolphins. Probably more than 50 dolphins swam and jumped out of the water all around us for a while. This was a windless morning, but the water swirled all around us indicating a strong surf. A couple of miles away we saw a large number of fishing boats in the middle of the Pantar Strait. We were told that the Southern Pacific water was rushing Northward bringing up very cold, nutrition-rich deep water and the dolphins and other fishes gathered to feed. The local fishing boats had harvest time, just scooping out as many fish as they could before the feeding was over. Next day, we have seen again that cold water swirling in the strait. This time it invited a large blue whale. We saw it about 50 yards from our boat. It came up a couple of times before disappearing. The next day brought a new wonder. Coming home from the dive, Johny, our local dive master, eyed a strange fin swimming about 20 yards from our boat. It was a mola mola (Ocean sunfish). We immediately pulled back the halfway down wetsuits and jumped into the water. The first jumpers and the strongest swimmers could get close enough to see that enormous big fish clearly underwater, but despite our effort it held a 15-30 ft distance from us. The other problem was that the water temperature was like we were in a glacier lake. Still, the cold water brought us three different wonders in three days. No complain. In conclusion, the Alor Archipelago is a very interesting and unique part of Indonesia. It looked very different from my first trip there about 15 years ago at that time in the spring. Moreover, the water here changes not only with the season, but also with the moon. This time we arrived at the new moon. Hard to believe, but less current compared to a full moon. But probably also less life coming up from deeper water.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Caribbean, Indonesia, Irian Jaya, Palau, Sipadan, Socorro
Closest Airport	Alor	Getting There	Boston-Doha-Jakarta-Kupang-Alor
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents, no currents
Water Temp	65-80°F / 18-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No deco diving
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	1 or 2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There was no camera holding in the boat. No camera room in the resort. However, there was a big table in the room good for setting the camera. there were European style electric outlets. Electricity sometimes went out.

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Dive Review of Alor Divers Eco Resort in Indonesia/Alor Archipelago

Alor Divers Eco Resort: "Many Faces of Indonesia", Oct, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Alor Divers Eco Resort in
Indonesia/Alor Archipelago