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Dive Review of Nautika Dive Resort, Alor in
Indonesia/Alor, East Nusa Tengarra

Nautika Dive Resort, Alor: "World class tropical reef diving", Aug, 2022,

by Phil Johnston, Bayswater, AU (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 26 reports with 25 Helpful votes). Report 12035 has 2 Helpful votes.

Photos Submitted with this Report


Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions

Scorpionfish Scorpionfish Hard coral reef, Anenome City Blur ribbon eel Cockatoo waspfish,
Razorfish. Kalabahi Bay View from Nautika resort over Alor strait. Frogfish Moray eel Nembrotha
Frogfish, Leaf scorpionfish

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments I had heard great word of mouth reports about Alor, and my expectations were fully met. I rated Alor as second only to Tubbutaha in the Philippines for tropical reef diving, as the latter is much more remote from human settlement than Alor dive sites, so is more untouched. The reefs at Alor were as rich & healthy as I have seen in other parts of Indonesia (Komodo & Raja Ampat), with excellent hard & soft corals at most sites, & on the wall dives, vividly colorful sponges & encrustations. I have found some wall dives in other places to be unexciting, at Alor however the sheer profusion of marine growth on sites such as Bama Wall & The Cathedral was exceptional. Most reef sites had dense populations of small reef fish such as anthias, with very high levels of biodiversity. Most Indonesian reef fish species were represented at almost every site.
Alor is in the dry tropics so there are no local rivers or streams. As a result visibility was consistently excellent, at times well exceeding 80 feet / 25 meters.
Kalabahi Bay provided excellent muck diving, with sightings of rare nudibranches, cockatoo wasp fishes, porcelain crabs, frog fish, sea horses, pipe fish & multiple species of octopus.
Negatives? Alor isn't particularly easy to get to, occasional strong currents do not make it an ideal destination for beginner divers, & like many other parts of Indonesia, large fish, sharks & pelagics are not common. I did see schools of bonito, mackerel & some occasional giant trevally on some of the inner reefs, & 4-5 small grey reef & black tip sharks, but only on one of the reefs outside the strait. We were told that hammerhead sharks have been seen spotted at Munaseli reef, but I didn't see any during either of my 2 dives at that site. The staff were uniformly excellent, & the 2 divemasters Kadek & Egy were wonderful critter spotters. Accommodation: the resort is quite a new building, it isn't luxurious but is comfortable & has great views out over the strait. Food was uniformly good, if anything too much! - buffet style breakfasts, lunches & dinners, with morning & afternoon snacks. The dive operations were very well run, nothing broke down & rental equipment was in good condition. Nitrox is not currently offered however. Overall I rated the diving & the resort very highly, as did the other guests who were there at the same time as myself.
Websites Nautika Dive Resort, Alor   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Australia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia (Bali, Komodo, Rajah Ampat, Lembeh, Manado, Ambon) Cocos Islands, Mexico (Cozumel & Soccorros) Tonga, Galapagos, Tahiti, Maldives, Mozambique, Bahamas, Red Sea, Roatan, Philippines, Hawaii (Kona, Maui)
Closest Airport Mali Airport, Alor Island Getting There Flew from Denpasar Bali to Kupang West Timor, then to Mali airport on Alor Island. Had to over night in Kupang as there is only 1 flight Kupang > Mali per day, this leaves @ 8:30 am in the morning so does not really connect with flights from other parts of Indonesia. The resort is about 40 minutes drive from the airport.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 24-28°C / 75-82°F Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 30-35 M / 98-115 Ft

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions The usual - no deco diving, sols diving, don't harass the marine life.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments No fresh water rinse tank on the boat, but quite a well set up camera room at the resort.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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