Alor ? Best of Indo

[Tino.k]

The water is very, very cold

What do you mean with "very,very cold"?!?!?!

i'll be there in august.......have to worry about it????

 

[charlier]

The water temperatures greatly vary depending dive site and currents. I have seen variations from 29°C to 18/19°C. Its worth it!

 

[billt4sf]

The water temperatures greatly vary depending dive site and currents. I have seen variations from 29°C to 18/19°C. Its worth it!

Charlie this is in reference to Alor in August?

- Bill

 

[Luko]

Charlie this is in reference to Alor in August?

- Bill

yeah could be, I've had 19°C too on anemone city in august, while the northern part of Pantar strait was quite warm, maybe 27C.

 

[Luko]

The Solomon Islands
PNG

In fact I'm coming back from Milne bay PNG and I wouldn't say it's like RA at all, I didn't find a fish density like in RA, nor the soft corals there are in RA.
If I had to compare it reminded me... Alor : for the mix of muck and blue water dives with excellent corals (more hard corals than Indonesia, this place Milne bay looks like the capital of hard corals in the world), all that in a warm 30-31°C water with >30m visibility.
They also say hammerheads are not infrequent... like in Alor.

 

[scubajunky17]

Thanks for all the input, good to see this forum active again.
Is the SI on the same level as RA or well above it ?
I was in RA two years ago during August and loved it, amazing diving, and incredible value, i had accommodation and meals for about tweny USD a day and my dives worked out about 30USD per dive, the SI and PNG especially seem much, much more expensive in comparison.
Is Alor also reasonably priced diving. I would love the SI but the accommodation alone seems very pricy.

 

[matts1w]

In fact I'm coming back from Milne bay PNG and I wouldn't say it's like RA at all, I didn't find a fish density like in RA, nor the soft corals there are in RA.
If I had to compare it reminded me... Alor....

Op asked for "...as good as..." not similar too. I loved the diving in the Solomons and PNG. When one factors in the WW2 relics and beautiful beaches for surface intervals, I found them both to be as good as, if not better, than R4.

 

[scubajunky17]

Thanks for that, are they similar in big fish action though, SI and PNG are very expensive, I can dive RA and stay cheap and cheerful for 100USD per day with two dives, are the SI and PNG worth the big extra cost ? I know you get what you pay for but if they are basically pretty similar I'd be happy to go back to RA.

 

[Wingy]

Subjective - I've always ranked PNG a notch above RA and the Solomons a notch or two below.

 

[Luko]

Op asked for "...as good as..." not similar too. I loved the diving in the Solomons and PNG. When one factors in the WW2 relics and beautiful beaches for surface intervals, I found them both to be as good as, if not better, than R4.

I think I read and understood OP's question.
My point is to give the OP some comparisons between places, also I feel it's quite hard to say "PNG" alone : in terms of diving or geography that would be like saying "East Indonesia" , ie. Kavieng is not like Tawali which does not compare to Rabaul, etc. For instance Tawali is not the place if you're looking for WW2 wrecks, I have never been on a beautiful beach during a surface interval in Tawali too. I don't think I would go to Milne bay for big fish.
I don't rank them either, it's quite different. Other than that it belongs to the uber-expensive category.