Alor

Posted on June 14, 2024June 14, 2024 by Annabel Thomas

The Alor Archipelago

The Alor Archipelago is located to the east of Flores and north of Timor-Leste in the Lesser Sunda Islands. The archipelago holds a wide variety of splendours from fascinating underwater wonders up to the unique culture of the highland people.

Alor is the largest island and lies at the eastern end of the archipelago. It is inhabited by a number of Flores sub-ethnic groups who still preserve their traditional ways of life.

Diving Alor

Alor offers pristine coral reefs. The Pantar Strait is one of the most well-preserved coral reef systems in Indonesia. The total ban on dynamite and cyanide fishing means the whole area has beautiful, colourful and dense coral reefs. Some of the dive sites are renowned for schools of pelagics such as Manta and Eagle rays, sharks, Dog-tooth tunas (Gymnosorda unicolor), and Napoleon wrasses. Occasionally you can spot schools of dolphins and Pilot whales.

The continual flow of ocean currents brings nutrients to invertebrates and small fishes, which in turn are eaten by medium-sized fishes, and so on up the foodchain.

In addition to pristine corals, Alor is also one of Indonesia’s top muck-diving destinations. Sediment on the seabed mixed with volcanic black sand and coral rubble is a perfect camouflage environment for unusual critters.

It really is a treasure hunt for macro photographers!

Alor’s Diving Seasons

Diving is good year-round with average viz of 25-30m however the best conditions are March to December. From May to September is the southeast monsoon (more windy than rainy) when viz may decrease to 15m. However this is when the plankton bloom happens resulting in increased feeding activity. Mola-Mola are usually spotted in September.

How to Reach Alor

The Alor Archipelago is somewhat remote however, Alor’s diving is often integrated into some Liveaboard schedules when crossing from Komodo to Raja Ampat.

And, of course, dive resorts offer attractive Diving & Accommodation packages: There are domestic flights from Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali to Kupang, and from there to Alor.

For more info on Alor diving, and to start your planning, please make sure your AMD-B Travel Consultant is aware of your needs. As always, they will be more than happy to offer recommendations and make arrangements to suit your preferences. Contact us on Tours@AquaMarineDiving.com today!

Dive Sites: Padangbai & Candidasa

Posted on June 7, 2024June 7, 2024 by Annabel Thomas

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Padangbai and Candidasa Dive Sites: Reef & Muck Diving and Unique Marinelife

Amuk Bay – with Padangbai to the south and Candidasa at the north – has some of Bali’s best dive sites and may be Bali’s premier location for sharks.

The Blue Lagoon area, just outside Padangbai, is a treasure-trove of marinelife that includes reef sharks, rhinopias, cuttlefish, Leaf scorpionfish, frogfish, lionfish, nudibranchs and a huge area of Staghorn coral. The area also offers excellent night-diving with Cat sharks, Spanishdancers, crustaceans, basketstars and hunting cephalopods to be found.

Mimpang is the name given to three rock pinnacles that break the surface. The southern, deeper end offers a spectacular wall with profuse corals, many fish and the opportunity to see pelagics. There are often thermoclines around 20m.

The breath-taking diving at Tepekong, a 300m long rock, is for experienced divers only due to the steep walls, cold water and (often strong) currents. In Tepekong’s famous ‘Canyon’, with its swirling waters and dramatic, craggy walls, we see schooling fish such as sweetlips, possibly Mola-Mola (Ocean sunfish) in season, White-tip reef sharks and turtles.

Biaha, a little to the north, offers some of Bali’s most stunning diving (it’s my favourite site). Here you can see a wonderful mixture of fish, sharks and frequent pelagic visitors set against a backdrop of chiselled black walls with beautiful, healthy corals and often superb visibility. Inside Biaha’s cave you can find anything from Nembrotha nudibranchs to sleeping White-tip reef sharks. Biaha is best dived at slack high tide and can be quite surgy.

It is essential your Dive Guide has extensive experience at Mimpang, Tepekong and Biaha because not only can conditions change without warning – both up and down currents are quite common.

Wakatobi

Posted on May 17, 2024May 17, 2024 by Annabel Thomas

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The Wakatobi Island Group

The Indonesian archipelago has many of the world’s greatest dive locations, one of which is ‘Wakatobi’ located in the centre of the Coral Triangle.

Rising from the depths of the Banda Sea, south east of mainland Sulawesi, the name ‘WaKaToBi’ comes from the names of four islands: Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, Binongko.

The Wakatobi islands have been a marine conservation area since 1996 and were declared a National Park in 2002. They are recognized as having one of the highest numbers of coral reef fish species in the world. Wakatobi also has the largest barrier reef in Indonesia, second only to The Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Being a National Marine Park, fishing is strictly limited. These superb reefs are supported and protected by the local fishing communities. In exchange for adopting more sustainable practices, including no-fishing zones, the fishermen receive a share of the income generated by Wakatobi Dive Tourism.

Diving with Wakatobi Dive Resort

Wakatobi Dive Resort and their liveaboard, Pelagian, offer more than 50 spectacular dive sites. These range from The House Reef where the warm water and shallow depth allow for long dives (although there can sometimes be a current) to gorgeous bays and lagoons, as well as dramatic walls and drop-offs abounding with seafans and gigantic sponges. Famed for night-diving due to the brilliantly coloured corals and resident marinelife, the reef edges attract great numbers of fish. The coral gardens bristle with large bommies and tubstrea corals. Large table corals shelter stingrays as well as invertebrates and crustaceans.

Wakatobi is ideal for divers who love macro underwater photography. Make sure you check out the muck diving in Pasarwajo 🙂 There aren’t many big fishes here although you will see Black-tip reef sharks at several dive sites.

The temperature range in Wakatobi is 26-29°C.
Rainy season is October to April.
Visibility remains consistent at approx 30m year-round.

All charter flights to/from Wakatobi Dive Resort & Liveaboard are Bali-Wakatobi-Bali return, and are currently on a Monday and Friday schedule.

If the above whets your appetite and, like so many of our other ‘Bali & Beyond’ guests, you can’t wait to start planning – please contact your friendly AMD-B Dive Travel Consultant on Tours@AquaMarineDiving.com today to start YOUR planning!