Alor: Macro vs wide angle

[Luko]

Been 4 times at Alor Divers, one of my favorite resorts in Indonesia.
Their specific location north of Pantar quite away from Kalabahi bay have them leaning more on wide angle/reef than muck/macro dives (I would state a 70/30 ratio wide/macro) with crystal clear water, on top of that warmer than the southerner sites.

Fantastic beach, healthy and tasty food, easy to socialize with other guests while eating with the owners and the managers at the dining table.
They have an excellent knowledge of the sites and the tricky currents they will not hesitate aborting or changing dive sites whenever they feel the current is too strong or dangerous, very good house reef. They only provide 2 boat dives/day with unlimited house reef, I sometimes had the chance to do three when the resort was not full. Good walks on the reef at low tide (seen GPF or BRO) or to the villages on either side of the resort. I had twice a report from friends spotting blue whales back from a dive on the housereef (in Oct/nov period).
Yellow corner (hammerheads) is just 15 minutes boat ride : dived there 7 or 8 times in my 4 stays with a hammerhead ratio of 50%, other sharks are present if no HH. Better to be there 3-4 days before full moon.
The bungalows are thought for photographers featuring a large table and electric plugs, the newer ones (recommanded) have a bathroom entrance.
No AC but fans, that was enough for us.

Would I go back? yes I would almost every year!

UW Alor 2013/24

Pantar and Alor diving with Alor Eco Divers - August 2013/14/15/22/24

www.flickr.com

 

[Madacub]

A big thank you to all of you for the very useful information. Just one more question about the a/c situation. I find that without a/c, my camera housing fogs up sometimes. How do you manage this situation?

Thanks Darnold, for the tip about the Dive Alor resort being in the shade of the hills behind the resort starting in the late afternoon.

 

[Madacub]

Been 4 times at Alor Divers, one of my favorite resorts in Indonesia.
Their specific location north of Pantar quite away from Kalabahi bay have them leaning more on wide angle/reef than muck/macro dives (I would state a 70/30 ratio wide/macro) with crystal clear water, on top of that warmer than the southerner sites.

Fantastic beach, healthy and tasty food, easy to socialize with other guests while eating with the owners and the managers at the dining table.
They have an excellent knowledge of the sites and the tricky currents they will not hesitate aborting or changing dive sites whenever they feel the current is too strong or dangerous, very good house reef. They only provide 2 boat dives/day with unlimited house reef, I sometimes had the chance to do three when the resort was not full. Good walks on the reef at low tide (seen GPF or BRO) or to the villages on either side of the resort. I had twice a report from friends spotting blue whales back from a dive on the housereef (in Oct/nov period).
Yellow corner (hammerheads) is just 15 minutes boat ride : dived there 7 or 8 times in my 4 stays with a hammerhead ratio of 50%, other sharks are present if no HH. Better to be there 3-4 days before full moon.
The bungalows are thought for photographers featuring a large table and electric plugs, the newer ones (recommanded) have a bathroom entrance.
No AC but fans, that was enough for us.

Would I go back? yes I would almost every year!

UW Alor 2013/24

Pantar and Alor diving with Alor Eco Divers - August 2013/14/15/22/24

www.flickr.com

Great pics on your flickr link, Luko. (But that's same as always!) 3-4 days before the full moon for more sharks, or more HHs or what? By the way, what's GPF & BRO?

 

[Luko]

-4 days before the full moon for more sharks, or more HHs or what?

for hammerheads.

By the way, what's GPF & BRO?

GPF ghostpipefish
BRO blue ring octopus
You sometimes find them stranded in the tidal pools on the reef (once again full moon is better because of lower tides)

 

[outofofficebrb]

A big thank you to all of you for the very useful information. Just one more question about the a/c situation. I find that without a/c, my camera housing fogs up sometimes. How do you manage this situation?

Most of the time, I don’t set up my camera in an AC environment. I never have fogging issues but I think there may be a few things at play. I use an AO cooler to transport my camera onto the day boat and always keep it covered and away from extended direct sunlight at all times. By not allowing the camera and housing to get warm then plunged into “cooler” water helps. I also have an aluminum housing and have a vacuum - maybe that also helps. My partner has an Olympus TG in the Olympus housing which is a type of plastic and he does not have fogging issues either by keeping it out of the sun. He sets up his kit alongside mine, so similar conditions. I think keeping it out of the sun is key!

 

[Madacub]

Thanks. " I think keeping it out of the sun is key!" I do try to do that, but I guess that in non a/c situations, I'll have to be really diligent....

 

[Trilobite]

Thanks. " I think keeping it out of the sun is key!" I do try to do that, but I guess that in non a/c situations, I'll have to be really diligent....

When does it fog up? If it's after you've been using it for a while, and you shoot a lot, then it's probably an issue of the camera getting warm from shooting. I have that problem (don't have an aluminum housing). Not sure there's much can be done except shoot less and/or experiment with dessicant packs?

 

[Madacub]

When it does fog, which is rare, it is after a good bit of use (I mainly video). Once I noticed that the fog actually disappeared towards the end of the dive (after having turned it off once fog appeared). I think the main time it fogged was after it had flooded (I was a bit lazy about cleaning the O ring). No damage to the camera/battery/card. I thought I had left it to dry out completely overnight, but it kept fogging for the next few dives, even though I was opening it only in an a/c environment.

I suspected there was residual moisture in the foam type inserts (maybe trapped behind the foam inserts) inside the housing body, leftover from the flooding. So I removed all of those that I could, left it all out to dry overnight (a/c room), and no problems thereafter. But ever since then, I've been using the desiccants.

It is a TG6 in the OEM housing. By the way, I *think* this does not tolerate going more than about 100'/30m very well. I've noticed a bit of dampness in the desiccants after this, not sure why.

 

[Dan]

The humidity, where you open the case, affect the level of fogging you are going to get. AC room has lower humidity. If there is no AC room, find a shaded area away from any sources of humidity, like bathroom, dining room, etc.

If the case doesn’t have vacuum port to pull the humid air out of the case, but it has room to insert desiccant (silica gel) pouches in air gap between the housing & the camera without interfering the sensor or button operation, insert those pouches as many as possible.

Another trick is to bring a gallon ziplock bag and do the following:
1. Get a cup of rice grains from dive operator’s chef
2. Pour that rice grains in the ziplock bag.
3. Put a sheet of dry paper towel on top of the rice grains
4. Take the camera out of its housing.
5. Lay the empty housing with its lens face down on the paper towel.
6. Zip up the ziplock bag, while you are messing with your camera.
7. When you are ready to insert the camera back into the case, then, open the ziplock bag, insert the camera into the case as quickly as you possibly can.

The air inside your camera housing should be fairly dry and won’t fog up your lenses underwater.

 

[Lorraine Mooney]

Since you mentioned about going to Banda Sea in DM, that whale migration would also continue to Banda Sea. So if you miss it in Alor, you have your 2nd chance to sea it in Banda Sea. I saw them in 2022, including free diving with Pilot whales & Sperm whales, as shown in this video:

Incredible experience with the whales! What time of year was that? Were you on a liveaboard or a land based trip? Thanks!
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