We visited Alor Eco Dive in October 2014. The weather was quite warm to hot at this time.
Getting there involved a flight from an international airport (Denpasar, Bali, in our case) to Kapung and another flight to Alor. One thing to be aware of is the baggage limits on internal flights. 20kg to Kapung and 15kg to Alor. This is not too much of a problem because the charge for excess baggage is only about $1.50/kg. From the Alor airport, there is a road trip of about 1 hour and then a 30 min boat ride.
The resort is small and quite isolated, catering for 12 divers and up to two additional people. The accommodation is basic - open wooden huts with thatched roofs. They have verandahs with water views and are basic but comfortable. Staff is sourced from local villages and are helpful and friendly (although conversation was limited due to lack of a common language). Electricity is 220V and is provided by generator that are turned off at various times, specifically during the day when dives are being undertaken. Internet access is available but limited.
Food is sourced from local sources where possible and while the ingredients don’t have the variety available in larger towns, each meal makes use of local recipes and these are very tasty and interesting. There is no shortage of food. Beer and soft drink is put on a tab to be settled at the end of the trip.
The diving day starts at around 8 am after breakfast in the comfortable, open, communal eating area. The routine involves two guided boat dives a day with access to the house reef for self-guided diving at other times. The house reef provides opportunities for excellent night dives, and we were encouraged to use it. Water temperatures were variable, ranging from 30°C with the occasional thermocline where 21°C was recorded. The chance of experiencing lower temperature currents makes a wetsuit advantageous, although not necessary. For sites that involve a longer boat trip, a double dive is run, otherwise the second dive is in the afternoon.
The diving is great - clear water, never less than 25m visibility, untouched pristine reef and plentiful small fish. We didn’t see many large reef or pelagic fish but that may have been related to the lack of usual currents. The local population uses traditional fishing traps, making for interesting photographic opportunities as well as potentially having some impact on the fish life.
Most sites are relatively shallow (less than 25m), and are near the coast. There can be strong currents and thermoclines, making diving here more suited to experienced divers, Sites near villages had little rubbish, unlike other places I have visited. While travelling to sites on the boat, we regularly saw dolphins (100+ at a time) and the occasional blue whale, although we didn’t get to spend time in the water with them.
The highlight of Alor is the variety of diving.
There are volcanic sands suitable for macro, with numerous nudibranchs, pipe-fish, rhinopias etc. Wide-angle opportunities abound on the spectacular walls and sponge life that grows on the flat reefs. Most sites are great for either macro or wide-angle photography, making the choice difficult. The dive staff was very helpful with the choice of lens. There is a wall dive where regular sightings of hammerheads are made - only one of our group was lucky enough on this trip. One highlight of the visit was anemone city, which had acres of spectacular reef covered in anemones. The second site that rates as one of the better walls I have seen is Bamah wall. It is a mass of invertebrate colour and fish. We did this twice enabling the use of macro and wide-angle lenses.
Dive guides were interested and willing to look for specific subjects. The dive staff was camera aware and careful but space is limited on the boats if the group has many large cameras. Tubs are provided for soaking cameras in the huts.
Snorkelers are catered for with the ability to accompany the divers on most trips.
There is a village about 30 minutes in each direction from the resort - best accessed at low tide to enable climbing over small rock platforms. The walk is easy and the villagers are very friendly, particularly if you are happy to photograph the inhabitants.
This is certainly somewhere I would revisit.
