Alor Divers Photo Contest 2013

A quick reminder for divers who were diving with us in 2013: the deadline to submit UW photos taken during 2013 in Alor, is end of January 2014. This year's judge is known slovenian UW photographer Borut Furlan. And the prize is 9 night stay in Alor Divers ;-). If you forgot the terms and rules, you can find the information at Alor Divers News (scroll down the page!)

Combine dive holiday: Sulawesi & Alor

Some of you might not know: there is flight from Makassar/Ujung Pandang (south Sulawesi) to Kupang (Timor NTT) every Tue, Thu and Sat. From Kupang it takes only a short flight to reach Alor.   

Thursday is possible to connect Makassar to Alor in same day! Tue and Sat need a transit night in Kupang...
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FYI : we can organize all your domestic flights ;-)

Ship wreck in Alor ?

Few days ago we got a shocking news that a cargo ship sank in Pantar Strait, between Pura and small Kepa Island. Accident happened due to complications in a strong current,  subsequent hull leak and  sinking of a boat. As we understand, boat was first a grounded on pinnacle formations that are rising to the surface (one of pinnacles is famous dive site Kal's Dream but it was not touched by this incident). Fortunately the crew of 16 (including captain) was rescued by local fishermen and authorities from Kalabahi - Alor. Whirlpool, created by strong currents, engulfed the boat and pulled it to greater depths. We haven't been to the location yet, but our source tells us the boat might be around 40mt depth, still visible from the surface.

Another great dive in Current Alley!

Yesterday we had again a great dive in Current Alley...: giant travallies, black tips, white tips, grey reefs and looooads of fish! Today in Apuri and Ternate : 2 frog fish, turtle, sea snake, tuna, blue spotted ray and many nudies! And that was the last "official" diving of this year. Tomorrow all guests leave the resort and we start full on with some renovations (much was done already in last month) and wet season break preparations.

Diving season 2013 is closing soon

December is the best time to plan a long break (due to heavy rains and reduced visibility). Diving is nevertheless good considering conditions, actually often real "fishomania" with all the fish feeding on suspended particles! 

Rhinopias species are still in the Bay (as well as many other critters that we saw during the year) and there seems to be a bloom of Harlequin ghost pipe fish. 

November/December is also a great time for nudibranche lovers, we noticed -as usual for this time of the year-  an abundance in their numbers and variety. Few days ago divers had a great time on a house reef, encountering an Eagle ray, black tip and a turtle on a single dive! Not bad for closing the season ;-)

We are very happy with diving in 2013! We had some very exciting dives, in general witnessed great reef life and some stunning pelagic encounters !!

Komodo Cruise with Gilles from Alor Divers, on KM Ambai, July 20-29

I am organizing few cruises in Indonesia next year. I am excited to say all is booked except one cabin with two singles for Komodo cruise on the liveaboard KM Ambai ! So we are still looking for 2 experienced divers to join us on the adventure, i can say that the cruise is one of the best values on Indonesian market at the moment. Of course I will be on the boat (and under water !) with you to ensure the best possible experience... The public price is 2080€/pp and I offer 5% discount. For more information check the PDF Komodo cruise 20-29 July or contact me at info@alor-divers.com (alordivers@gmail.com)

Fast review of diving lately...

To focus on pelagic first: a couple of Grey Reef Sharks plus Black Tips in Current Alley, Turtle (not plural :-(  ) and a Giant Travellies, Napolian plus big Tuna at Bama Wall, a big Marble Ray in the south and the top of the tops: a school of 40 Hammerheads in Current Alley ! we had to descent to 50 mt to meet them but it was well worth it :-). We also had few encounters with Thresher Shark, that came to check us in the "shallows" of 15-20 mt! Whales are starting to migrate the Pantar Strait and are during this time-as every year- frequently passing just in front of the house reef...
From pelagic to reef and muck:  the reef diving still with fantastic ambiance, lots of reef fish and great corals... Muck diving still very interesting with highlights like Rhinopias species (Weedy and Paddle Flap), frog fish, ghost pipe fish (Harlequin, Halimeda, robust), blue ring octopus,mushroom head pipefish, arrow head crab, solar powered nudi, winged pipe fish, Sea horse and other critters that divers are happy to see!

We will soon post few things about above water level activities and events! 

hairy frog fish

i mention on a previous post that we saw a hairy frog fish , but somehow i forgot to post the photo....so here it is the incredible one.

Rhinopias eschmeyeri (paddle flap)

This guy was also around this summer...

Kalabahi Bay last week

...this one was new to us this year !

House reef sunset walk

walking on the very shallow part of house reef at low tide, we found some nice surprises:

Tried new mini dome

today i tried my new mini dome with the 10.5 fish eye on muck dive ....

 

Bama Wall festival

Today we were all enchanted by festival of color and Anthias at Bama Wall !!!

wanted to share with you some of my picture, all are taken in Alor. So i will start with  this harlequin ghost pipe fish portrait in Pura island  earlier this year. My favorite fish to photograph...

Amazing start of the diving season 2013 !

Only a month  since we open this year and the diving has been amazing. Tons of macro life on the coral dives as well as on the muck dive, my favorite fish the harlequin ghost pipe fish has been found in yellow, white, black and orange colors, many of them...always a pleasure to see.

the surprise came this week with a Hairy Frogfish in Goodies...

And for the bigger staff the highlight was a school of hammerhead shark that came close to our group of divers. The photo is taken with fish eye 10.5 and not cropped !!!

yes your are not dreaming, it is Alor not galapagos...!   ;-)

Winners of AD Photo Contest 2012

February already and I’m late to announce the winner from the photo contest:


- On the “portfolio” category : Irena Cok

- For the “ best shot” category : Matej Simonic

Seems like Slovenia is a big winner for the first photo contest…

Of course we will conduct the contest again in 2013…so tune your housing and don’t forget your favorite lens…