Looking for Indonesia warm water suggestions for a September/October trip

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@Dan That is one behemoth of a trip. I did a 19-day LoB once. Hope you can make it happen! I’ll be diving and photographing in Alor that exact period this year. Will give you my impressions.

Yes, Indonesia is huge. It’ll take 15 weeks - 10 day break in October.

I went on that same yacht for 7 weeks in Mediterranean and dove in Montenegro, Albania and Greece. Bali-Banda-Raja-Singapore would be twice as long, but we plan to have a 10-day break in Ambon. Bali-Ambon trip would be in 6 week trip & Ambon-Singapore trip would be in 8 week trip.

Glad to hear that you’ll be in Alor around the same period this year. That means I pick the right time of the year to be there. Please share your impressions here afterwards, especially the dive sites.

Thanks!
 
Yes, Indonesia is huge. It’ll take 15 weeks - 10 day break in October.

I went on that same yacht for 7 weeks in Mediterranean and dove in Montenegro, Albania and Greece. Bali-Banda-Raja-Singapore would be twice as long, but we plan to have a 10-day break in Ambon. Bali-Ambon trip would be in 6 week trip & Ambon-Singapore trip would be in 8 week trip.

Glad to hear that you’ll be in Alor around the same period this year. That means I pick the right time of the year to be there. Please share your impressions here afterwards, especially the dive sites.

Thanks!
Full moon will be on the 7th of september this year, which has a significant impact on tide, currents and marine action in the strait. Will be there then and ten days on. Haven’t checked when it happens in september 2026, but should be later in the month. Hopefully you will be able to nail it there :)
 
@Dan, that's a hell of a trip! Some of those days are nuts — Kri, Blue Magic, and Sardine Reef :cool:

I didn't know Layang Layang is open again — who are you diving it with?

Re Alor, everyone differs, but it's probably my favourite place to dive in Indo, including above Raja (have done 2 liveaboards in Raja, so it's not like I've just done 3 dives there). My favourite site is probably Motonglang (Cathedral), though part of the beautiful northernmost part of the site got bombed last year. It's still an amazing site. Bama Wall is of course completely magical. I also love Beipa and Halerman (both in the south, both strong currents, both get very fishy with random big stuff passing now and then — dolphins, molas, sharks). I think someone mentioned Munaseli (Current Alley), which rocks too, even without hammers.

Also, I don't think you're diving in Belongas, Candi Dasa, Kakaban, or Sangalaki? They're all great in their own ways. On its day, Belongas is particularly special, IMO. You've probably been to all of them though, you clearly know your diving!
 
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I have a day of diving in Alor on 14 September 2026. Do you have recommended dive sites other than the ones you mentioned above?

Thanks!
Dan, I probably already mentioned them above (I haven't re-read the whole thread) my go-to dive sites in Alor are :
- Yellow corner/Current alley/Munaseli (depending on who's diving like to call it) for the sheer number of sharks including HH at the right time (+- 3 days before/after full moon in the morning) and the schools of fish. there are several ways of diving the site and waiting for the HH I prefer the deeper place of the plateau (38m, deco needed)
- Bama Wall on the Pantar side,Cathedral on the Alor side, for both of those I really like the sunny shallows.
There is one deep site (40m) on the Bama side which I found pretty good that I only dived once (Elalara?) because it's quite dangerous and need optimal current conditions, very nice structure (like a deep arch if I recall well)
- East of Pura I like Rumah Biru for the density of fish and there's also Boardroom which is I think a bit south to RB.I have been disappointed with the more recent dives in (no more) anemone city.
- Macrowise, there's of course a couple of sites into Kalabahi bay where there are good chances of spotting one or two rhinopias either in front of the mosque or the school.
 
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Dan, I probably already mentioned them above (I haven't re-read the whole thread) my go-to dive sites in Alor are :
- Yellow corner/Current alley/Munaseli (depending on who's diving like to call it) for the sheer number of sharks including HH at the right time (+- 3 days before/after full moon in the morning) and the schools of fish. there are several ways of diving the site and waiting for the HH I prefer the deeper place of the plateau (38m, deco needed)
- Bama Wall on the Pantar side,Cathedral on the Alor side, for both of those I really like the sunny shallows.
There is one deep site (40m) on the Bama side which I found pretty good that I only dived once (Elalara?) because it's quite dangerous and need optimal current conditions, very nice structure (like a deep arch if I recall well)
- East of Pura I like Rumah Biru for the density of fish and there's also Boardroom which is I think a bit south to RB.I have been disappointed with the more recent dives in (no more) anemone city.
- Macrowise, there's of course a couple of sites into Kalabahi bay where there are good chances of spotting one or two rhinopias either in front of the mosque or the school.

Thank you very much for the tips.

Yes, some dive sites have several names depending on the operators. I notice the Yellow Corner / Current Alley / Munaseli is also called Tanjung Muna by Dive Damai after I went with them to Alor and compared their GPS coordinates.
 
I didn't know Layang Layang is open again — who are you diving it with?

Thanks for the heads up. Upon checking with ChatGPT, the resort is still closed.

“As of January 6, 2025, diving operations at Layang Layang Island Resort had their operating licence revoked by Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture (MOTAC), effectively shutting down civilian tourism diving for the foreseeable future . Subsequently, leading dive providers have confirmed that the resort is no longer operating and there’s currently no way to dive at Layang Layang.”

That means we are going to skip it and revise my itinerary.
 
Re Alor, everyone differs, but it's probably my favourite place to dive in Indo, including above Raja (have done 2 liveaboards in Raja, so it's not like I've just done 3 dives there). My favourite site is probably Motonglang (Cathedral), though part of the beautiful northernmost part of the site got bombed last year. It's still an amazing site. Bama Wall is of course completely magical. I also love Beipa and Halerman (both in the south, both strong currents, both get very fishy with random big stuff passing now and then — dolphins, molas, sharks). I think someone mentioned Munaseli (Current Alley), which rocks too, even without hammers.

Yes, Current Alley is amazing even without HH as shown in my video, below when I dove there with Amira back in April 2023. I dove again in that same dive site with Damai 1 twice (they called it Tanjung Muna) in December 2024 and saw HH.

I’ll add your dive site recommendations into my itinerary. Thanks!

 
Also, I don't think you're diving in Belongas, Candi Dasa, Kakaban, or Sangalaki? They're all great in their own ways. On its day, Belongas is particularly special, IMO. You've probably been to all of them though, you clearly know your diving!

Belongas is in my bucket list. Thanks for pointing that out.

I dove Candi Dasa, Kakaban and Sangalaki. The last 2 are included in my eastern Indonesia trip itinerary:


25 November
08A Cruise to S Maratua (20 NM)
10A Anchor in S Maratua*
01P D117 in The Channel
03P Cruise to Kakaban (15 NM)
05P Anchor in W Kakaban

26 November
07A D118 in Kakaban
11A Tour & snorkel in Kakaban
03P D119 in Derawan

Did this trip to Maratua in August 2023 with White Manta. The schooling Barracuda was mind blowing!


Kakaban


Sangalaki


The Channel
 
I edited my Alor itinerary based on @GDMP & @Luko inputs, as follows. What do you all think?

11 September
08A Cruise to Alor (57 NM)
02P Anchor in Alor Kecil
03P D24 in Cathedral

12 September
07A D25 in Current Alley
11A D26 in Bama Wall
03P D27 in Beipa

13 September
07A D28 in Current Alley
11A D29 in Babylon
03P D30 in Pura Wall

14 September
07A D31 in Elalara
11A D32 in Rumah biru
03P D33 in Haleman

15 September
07A Cruise to Kalabahi* (7 NM)
09A Go to Mali Beach
10A Boat ride to see Dugong

16 September
08A Cruise to Reong (93 NM)
 
@Dan, sorry, just glanced at your itinerary and so missed Kakaban and Sangalaki. Not sure which sites you've been to in Candidasa, but Tepekong and Taked are my favourites (not many go to Taked, but I love it). Mimpang is fine, but not the best.

Re Belongas, definitely worth the trip. Everyone talks about Magnet, but it's my least favourite site. Can be amazing and something will happen, but very hit and miss, usually very green, and can be a real workout in the current (can be huge surge, some downcurrents, etc). Favourites there are definitely Manta Pot (beautiful reef, loads of mantas sometimes, cave full of white tips and whip rays) and Gili Serang (stunning soft coral, cool topography, can be large numbers of mobulas, nurseries for white tips, coral catsharks, and more).

Re Alor, will you be able to choose sites like this? Most dive shops in Alor are quite particular about where they go and when because of the currents. Some won't even consider certain dive sites (especially Halerman and Kal's Dream) about 90% of the month. I wanted to dive Kal's Dream, but the dive shop wouldn't go at that time of the month, and two of the dive guides very nearly died there once because there was a raging down current the entire dive (one ran out of air after 20 minutes). Dive sites like Bama and Cathedral can be tricky with down currents, and the current can race at Beipa too (it's a drift dive though, so it's fine). Re other Alor sites, my favourites include Dolu Wala and Dabari, and there are a bunch of others that aren't dived much that are great too (e.g., Harilolong). But again, depends on the conditions!
 

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