419 Dive Log Australasia AUGUST 2026

The Alor archipelago lies east of Indonesian Flores and north of Timor Leste, and it is a quiet backwater, with few villages and little water traffic, which keeps the reefs healthy and the marine life plentiful. There’s some extraordinarily good diving in the area, both on the reefs and in the large patches of black volcanic sand. Here is a glimpse of what to expect from an Alor dive trip. Beangabang Bay was the first site in the Alor archipelago to become famous as a rich hunting ground for unusual marine life. It is a small natural harbour, and home to a modest vil lage, a tall church, a small school and a dark sand beach, di vided at one end by a river outflow. Below the schoolhouse, a hot spring empties into the bay, and it always feels like a treat when you swim into the outflow from the spring, es pecially during a chilly night dive. Near the river, the shallow upper shelf is the final resting place for logs and other debris and a little deeper, there are a few coral heads before you reach a bare dark sand slope. This combination is a perfect storm for an amazing variety of muck and macro life, frogfish, Ambon scorpionfish, snake eels, nudibranchs, seahorses, sea moths, ornate ghost pipe fish and velvet ghost pipefish. At night, Bobbit worms poke their ugly heads out of the sand and basket stars open for business. Many liveaboards spend a couple of days of each trip here, and the villagers are used to divers. The children will paddle out on hardly seaworthy improvised canoes and hang out all day, breaking into song from time to time, idly fishing or just sleeping on the tenders in the shade cast by the hull of the ship. After you have had your fill of the delights of Beangabang, your next stop may be off the south side of a large cone shaped island called Pura , right in the middle of the Alor straits. Here is a unique spot where the reef is carpeted with millions of anemones that extend for acre after acre in an un feasibly huge colony. The Appeal of Alor N ew Diving & Snorkelling Guide to Komodo, Alor, Banda and Southeast Indonesia by Tim Rock & Simon Pridmore

In the middle of the day, with the sun overhead, the vibrant colours of the anemones explode in all their glory, clouds of anthias hover above them, and fast schools of fusiliers race along the reef. This is a gorgeous site and, if you can, tear your gaze away briefly from the reef top and glance out into the open ocean. There are thresher sharks around Pura, and there is every chance that the Gods of the sea may bestow upon you the blessing of a sighting of one of these incredible, sleek, wary animals. Beyond Pura, lies Kalabahi Bay , a long, narrow strip of water that almost bisects the island of Alor. On the northern side, just beyond the entrance, is a classic muck dive site named Mucky Mosque after the tall minaret on the shore. Here, the sea floor is littered with junk, which translates into the perfect habitat for rare marine life.

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DIVE LOG Australasia #419 August ‘ 26

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