What to Expect on a Snorkel Tour to Alor and Komodo: Part One

So I have decided to give you a small overview of the trip, what you can expect, what a day in the life of the tour looks like… This post deals with the first part of the tour, in Alor. You can read about the second part of the tour in Komodo here.

The tour start with a night in Bali to allow everyone some time to arrive from international flights, freshen up and get a good nights rest.

Uluwatu temple and ocean cliff

The following morning, the group of 12 plus the guide travels together to Alor. This involves a short flight to Kupang, and after a wait, another short flight to Alor. This is a small island in the eastern part of Indonesia, where we are met by waiting cars and embark on an hours journey to the magnificent resort nestled into the tree-lined rocky shore. Here we settle in, enjoy lunch and a resort and snorkel briefing before getting our feet wet. the water temperature ranges from 74 – 84F, although closer to the resort it’s usually closer to 84F.

This resort has a beautiful house reef, accessible from the wooden jetty, which stretches a good distance along the shore. Here we can see stunning corals ranging from the surface down to 18m along a slope. Alive with tropical fish, baby reef sharks, eels, Mandarin fish, nudibranchs and more, this is a magnificent place to spend some time exploring.

Diamond spadefish below jetty in Alor

The resort’s three speed boats and excellent staff members will provide transport and surface support for the following days outings to snorkel sites further from the resort. We will fill our days here exploring some of the healthiest and most colorful reefs in the world. The boats have experienced captains, and are equipped with water, snacks, towels and flotation devices.

While snorkeling around this part of Indonesia we recommend wearing 3mm wetsuits, and possibly bringing a vest along too as water temperatures sometimes drop a little in the Southern sites. Full foot fins are perfect as we will be doing boat entries so no need to have booties necessarily. The resort has a camera set up room, complete

Alami Alor Resort

A couple of afternoons will be spent on land exploring some of the sites and learning about the local culture of the area.

We will spend 7 nights in our luxurious sea front bungalows, each with an open air ensuite bathroom, complete with towels shampoo and body wash and mosquito repellent. The bungalows have spacious bedrooms with closets, bedside tables, desk with access to plug points, wash baskets (where one can leave dirty clothes for the free laundry service), drinking water, as well as large private outdoor decks. Here we can enjoy private sun lounges, and magnificent sunsets.

Snorkeler floating over reef in Komodo National Park

While here our meals will be taken in the lounge/dinning area, where we will all sit at a long table and enjoy a variety of dishes prepared with fresh local ingredients, mostly showcasing the best of traditional Indonesian cuisine.  Breakfasts are made to order, lunches and dinners are served family style and completed with freshly baked treats for dessert.

Alami Alor Resort Bungalows

About Author

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Alex Lindbloom
Alex is a Snorkel Venture and Dive Safari Asia guide as well as the video and photo pros for both companies. Alex is also a field editor for a popular underwater photography magazine. Prior to joining Snorkel Venture in 2018 Alex lived and worked all over the world working as an underwater cameraman, with five of those years living/working on a yacht in Indonesia. Alex's images and videos have garnered many international awards such as Underwater Photographer of the Year and can be seen on NatGeo, Discovery Channel, the UN Building, and various magazines.