Compare and contrast Alor Islands (on Komodo Dancer) with Cocos Island....

[ewaiea]

Okie dokie....got a trip on the books - Tropic Dancer in Palau for this October 16th to 23rd - any recent details on this trip feel free to add.......Now, being the compulsive dive trip planner I am - 2012 is already being brainstormed........SO, time for random questions and some FRESH input not seen in previous threads.

I've narrowed it down to two different spots that are POLAR opposite - Alor Islands on the Komodo Dancer (it's the itinerary that they only do for a few months which is way outta the way), OR Cocos Island on either the Okeanos Aggressor or Wind Dancer.

Now one trip revolves much more on diving on reefs of epic biodiversity and a big "macro" theme which is right up my alley - I loved PNG. Even though I'm doing Palau this year - I'm having a hard time imagining it could beat my trip to PNG. The OTHER trip revolves around high energy drift dives with schools of hammerheads and white-tips. I think shark diving is cool but not sure it would make the cut and beat out the idea of an Alor trip.

Now, I'm aware there are other trip reports on Cocos and I'm well aware of what it entails but the Alor itinerary is seldom discussed and FRESH details would be much appreciated. Any comparing/contrasting of the two places from divers that have (on the off chance) been to both would be even better! Details on the vessels in question would be good too. Keep in mind though, I'm pretty faithful to the Aggressor and Dancer Fleets, they both just have never failed to disappoint - in my opinion (and many others as well!).

Take care all and happy and safe diving!

 

[Shasta_man]

Just going to town on these liveaboards, eh Ewaiea? So what's your ballpark airfare to get to Palau from Hawaii? It was like $1500 last time I checked airfare to ROR from here on the West Coast. I just can't justify that since the boat costs are all the same once you get anywhere. I can go a lot of places, except PNG, for 15 hundred. I've been to Komodo on the Komodo Dancer. It was a great trip and I'd recommend highly. Note that Komodo and from what I've read Alor both have serious current spots. In fact, much stronger than what I had in Palau. In multiple places, the currents were swirling and so strong to see the water surface folding over on itself and clear outlines of currents. There was a good trip report on Alor on here somewhere, and check the Dancer website for the Alor trip. Garry who usually runs those trips as well as Komodo Dancer has mega experience in that area and wrote a dive site description booklet which gives a decent idea of what you find.

I'll add that the Komodo Dancer is the same boat for Alor, and it was a good boat. Cabins were decent size though not large. THe food was very good mix of Western and Indo. The dive guides were excellent and I would follow them anywhere. Garry who runs the trip has a ton of knowledge and is an interesting character. He's always below us with his video camera and not being a short guy, I still don't know how he made his air last so much. I'd imagine he has serious endurance from those days of diving. We went through our share of beautiful weather and storms. We encountered the storms usually always at night transitting between areas. One night I came up to the lounge at about 3 AM and the water dispenser with big bottle was rocking back and forth so much, it finally fell over and dumped all over the floor. I have some video that would probably make many not want to take that trip but it was actually fine and I was never worried. Only drawbacks I could think of were the boat was not particularly fast so a storm caused us to slow to 4 knots and miss our chance to dive Tulumben on the way back (damn! we dived elsewhere), and the stairs down to the cabins are steep and my wife fell down them and had a monster bruise on her seat. Only other thing I can remember is they made us wait to eat for night divers return so we were waiting from noon to like 8-9 PM to eat dinner which is a long time on an active schedule. I'd go again in a heartbeat.

 

[ewaiea]

Thanks Shasta_man. Yep, I did my first liveaboard 2 years ago on the Kona Aggressor II and knew that I wouldn't turn back after that. Land-based diving to me is just boring. I don't really like spending time in hotels, changing my tanks over between dives, lugging gear back and forth each day just to get two dives in......way too much work.

I'm thinking the Alor itinerary is what will probably win out - I have to do alot more thinking about Cocos, as mentioned - shark diving to me is pretty cool but I'm not sure it would be my cup of tea - maybe for a future trip.

Any other reviews would be much appreciated.

Thanks again!

 

[mjh]

Well we have trip reports, galleries and Multimedia for both spots. The real question (IMHO) is how much do you like sharks? If you love sharks, rays and the possible bait ball then you will love Cocos. Now you can get skunked or have low interactions, the ride out can be tough, and the water is cool (compared to Alor). BUT when it is good it is Incredible, if you like sharks. We have dove a fair amount of Indo and reality is the only real variability is how good will the viz be +60ft or +100, lol. Otherwise you are almost assured of incredible diversity of fish, corals, and landscapes. But not many sharks....

 

[jake11]

We have been to Cocos and to the Alors. I liked the Alors better. The captain and crew on the Agressor in Cocos were great! The crossing on the way out was HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! That did it for me! I could not bear to do that again. I was sick as can be and had a patch on, etc. NOTHING worked. Once we were moored in the Bay I was fine. We had some great dives but there was not a lot of big stuff on our trip. One of our friends said they saw hundreds of rays on their trip but we saw only a few. I must say that they saw tiger sharks right in the bay on the charter before ours. Also, the silver tip dive was awesome! Beautiful animals!!! I also might add that Costa Rica is an awesome place to visit. We have been there 3x and you can easily add on many activities before or after your trip! Love that country!
I had the best dive of my entire dive life in the Alors! Loved that place!!!!!!!!! If you go on the Komodo Dancer you will have the pleasure of diving with Gary Bevans. He is hysterical!!! We laughed the entire time when he was on our Paradise Dancer charter. He is also an excellent diver and knows those waters very well! I thought the crew on the Komodo Dancer was top notch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loved the entire trip from start to finish. We did Komodo with that boat and it was stellar. We were in the Alors on the former AA2. Amazing diving!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I must also add that PNG will be hard to top! That is still one of our favorite trips ever! ( a pain to get to, but well worth it as far as the diving went!)
Have fun in Palau and the other trip that you decide on! Hope this helps!