by Lisa Crosby - Kararu Dive Voyages
As a working instructor and divemaster, I have lived and dived in Indonesia for over six years now. Alor was always a region I longed to visit. In February, with the help of Cody Schwaiko and David Espinosa (now Chief Editor of Asian Diver) and our expert Captain, Pak Yan, who is from that region, I had my first chance to see Alor from my own mask. I had always read and heard that Alor was where the "big stuff" swims. I had visions of famous dive sites such as Kal's Dream swarming with pelagics, whale sharks and so on. The reality of the situation, at least this February, was a bit different.
The reefs so beautiful and bursting with color it was simply amazing. We saw no signs of bombing, bleaching or any of the other catastrophes happening in some other regions. As it is a small enough area to control, the locals told us that they no longer practice fish bombing in the Alor Region. The visibility was amazing, almost every dive boasted 20-40 meters (60-120 feet) visibility. The only exceptions were our pier dives with the mimic and harlequin shrimp, and a couple of the night dives. The reefs are teeming with fish life such as anthias, snappers, groupers, batfish, fusiliers, etc. In combination with all of the schooling fishes, I quickly learned that Alor is also very rich in macro critters. This suited me just fine as Macro is my specialty. Alas, I am also fascinated by pelagics & was extremely excited about the possibility of diving with these infamous "big boys." After over 20 diving days in the region and several attempts to find the "big stuff" at Kal's Dream & other sites, I must tell you honesty that we did not encounter many large animals this trip. While we did meet the odd black and white tip reef sharks, big eye jacks, tuna, bumphead parrotfish and Napoleon Wrasse, the main highlight of our trip were the coral reefs, the great visibility, and the diversity of reef critters.
The coral reef profiles are extremely varied with walls, sloping reefs, pinnacles, caves and seamounts. There are both rocky sites with coral cover and true coral reef sites. Best of all, the density of divers is basically nil. There is only one land-based operator running there at the moment, and the dive conditions are a dream. The above water scenery is also stunning and the friendliness of the local village people is truly something to be remembered for life.
So the bottom line is, if you want guaranteed pelagics swarming on every dive site, Alor may not be for you. But if you want a diverse combination of some of the best diving I have seen in Indonesia, then Alor is your place. In my opinion, it is also a heaven for guests doing photography and video. I should also tell you that there is always at least one of the owners of Kararu Dive Voyages on board the vessel to ensure the service is unbeatable. On special trips, such as Alor, we all tend to be on board as nobody wants to miss out on the great diving!!
Indonesia is certainly an awesome diving destination, and I hope you have found my report to be of value. I shall look forward to meeting you someday in person onboard Kararu Dive Voyages.
Yours in diving,
Lisa Crosby - Kararu Dive Voyages
Warm greetings from Bali! My name is Lisa Crosby and I am one of the three owners of Kararu Dive Voyages. I heard from Ken at Island Dreams that you were thinking about doing one of our trips to Alor, Indonesia. The following report is from my own February 2001 Alor trip. For me, it was definitely some of the finest diving I have ever seen.
Please follow these links for information about travel to Komodo, Alor, Irian, Indonesia, and beyond:
Link to Ken Knezick's latest dive report - Exploring Indonesia
Link to Kararu Dive Voyages - A Superb Live-Aboard Cruising Indonesia
Link to Komodo Island Index Page
Link to Lisa Crosby's First-Hand ALOR Report
Link to Komodo Photo Gallery by Secret Sea Visions
Link to Beneath the Dragon's Realm - Exploring Komodo National Park
Link to Excerpt from an upcoming book on Komodo National Park
Link to Wakatobi Found - Report from Wakatobi, Indonesia
Link to Itinerary for Ken Knezick's September 4 - 18, 2004 Wakatobi Group
Link to Irian Jaya Photo Gallery by Ken Knezick
Link to Political Concerns? - An Insider's Report from Indonesia
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