My partner and I are experienced divers from Vancouver island and we just returned from a trip to Nautika dive resort in Alor Indonesia.
TLDR
Travel: 2/10
Food: 8/10
Accommodations: 10/10
Staff: 10/10
Diving: 9/10
Now to the nitty gritty of it all.
Travel: This was the 1 aspect of our trip that may prevent us from returning. Our initial 2 flights to Singapore then Jakarta went smoothly, however once we got onto Batik air for our 3rd and 4th flight it all fell apart. Both of these flight we fully boarded only to sit on the plane a hour before returning to the terminal due to mechanical issues both of which led to long delays. Then on our final approach of Alor we had to abort the flight due to turbulence (we felt no turbulence in the plane) and returned all the way back to Kupang before waiting for 2 hours and trying again. Unfortunately I believe Batik air is the only option getting into Alor so there is no way to avoid the company itself.
Accommodations: However once we landed in Alor the trip was a dream. Nautika's taxi driver was waiting front and center of the airport with welcome treats and gifts for everyone and we were whisked off to the resort! The resort itself was beautiful, the picturesque blue and what villas and shop look look like a tribute to Greek islands along with the plentiful seating areas and large lawn out front it was a great place to wind down after a day of diving. We stayed in a deluxe room and it was spotless every day coming in from diving. The cleaners would even fold our dirty laundry each day! They also had a separate gear room and electronics room for guests to store gear and charge their cameras.
Food: The food at Nautika was also excellent. It was all Indonesian cuisine and done very well. From fish, beef and chicken curries and stirfrys to a different hot soup at every meal we definitely never went hungry. My favorite was the homemade baked goods out every day during the lunch time snack (they also serve them on our surface intervals on the boat, yum!)
Staff: The staff once again were excellent, I don't think I ever saw any of them with less then a smile and genuine want to help us out. Kadek the resort manager especially went above and beyond planning everything with us (I also planned a surprise engagement to my now fiancé at Nautika and it went very well). The Dive staff tended to us very well and our guide Egy was a genuine wonder of the world with his eagle eyes spotting every small nudi and pipefish!
Diving: We did 24 dives during our stay with Nautika and wish we could've done 24 more! Our first day started out with a superpod of dolphins leading us to our first dive site of the trip Munaseli! The dive sites varied widely Munaseli is the most famous site in Alor due to the hammerhead sightings and whilst we never got to see them we say plentiful reef sharks and rays at this site. Munaseli is also Alor's only hook dive site so if you like the feeling of being a kite in the current then its for you! Some other highlights were Bama wall where we saw an Oceanic Sunfish and Apuri Bay with its pygmy seahorses. If you are a coral lover this is probably the best you can get. It is Raja Ampat without the liveaboard fever. The islands also offer fantastic muck diving at sights like Bakalang Jetty and Mucky Mosque where we saw plentiful frog fish, pipefish, blue ring octopus and rhinopieas.
All in all Alor is a must see island despite the tough travel to get there!
TLDR
Travel: 2/10
Food: 8/10
Accommodations: 10/10
Staff: 10/10
Diving: 9/10
Now to the nitty gritty of it all.
Travel: This was the 1 aspect of our trip that may prevent us from returning. Our initial 2 flights to Singapore then Jakarta went smoothly, however once we got onto Batik air for our 3rd and 4th flight it all fell apart. Both of these flight we fully boarded only to sit on the plane a hour before returning to the terminal due to mechanical issues both of which led to long delays. Then on our final approach of Alor we had to abort the flight due to turbulence (we felt no turbulence in the plane) and returned all the way back to Kupang before waiting for 2 hours and trying again. Unfortunately I believe Batik air is the only option getting into Alor so there is no way to avoid the company itself.
Accommodations: However once we landed in Alor the trip was a dream. Nautika's taxi driver was waiting front and center of the airport with welcome treats and gifts for everyone and we were whisked off to the resort! The resort itself was beautiful, the picturesque blue and what villas and shop look look like a tribute to Greek islands along with the plentiful seating areas and large lawn out front it was a great place to wind down after a day of diving. We stayed in a deluxe room and it was spotless every day coming in from diving. The cleaners would even fold our dirty laundry each day! They also had a separate gear room and electronics room for guests to store gear and charge their cameras.
Food: The food at Nautika was also excellent. It was all Indonesian cuisine and done very well. From fish, beef and chicken curries and stirfrys to a different hot soup at every meal we definitely never went hungry. My favorite was the homemade baked goods out every day during the lunch time snack (they also serve them on our surface intervals on the boat, yum!)
Staff: The staff once again were excellent, I don't think I ever saw any of them with less then a smile and genuine want to help us out. Kadek the resort manager especially went above and beyond planning everything with us (I also planned a surprise engagement to my now fiancé at Nautika and it went very well). The Dive staff tended to us very well and our guide Egy was a genuine wonder of the world with his eagle eyes spotting every small nudi and pipefish!
Diving: We did 24 dives during our stay with Nautika and wish we could've done 24 more! Our first day started out with a superpod of dolphins leading us to our first dive site of the trip Munaseli! The dive sites varied widely Munaseli is the most famous site in Alor due to the hammerhead sightings and whilst we never got to see them we say plentiful reef sharks and rays at this site. Munaseli is also Alor's only hook dive site so if you like the feeling of being a kite in the current then its for you! Some other highlights were Bama wall where we saw an Oceanic Sunfish and Apuri Bay with its pygmy seahorses. If you are a coral lover this is probably the best you can get. It is Raja Ampat without the liveaboard fever. The islands also offer fantastic muck diving at sights like Bakalang Jetty and Mucky Mosque where we saw plentiful frog fish, pipefish, blue ring octopus and rhinopieas.
All in all Alor is a must see island despite the tough travel to get there!
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