Coralia Itinerary

Alor - 9N

Day 1:
On embarking day, you will be greeted by the Coralia team and get time to settle in, prepare your gear and relax from your travels. Coralia cruise directors will also give you an orientation about the amenities on board, the safety features and procedures, and the cruise itinerary. Typically, we use the afternoon and night to make our way to the first dive destination. So the first dive will be the next morning. 

Starting from Maumere on the island of Flores, we will head straight to our first stop with an overnight crossing to Bacatan which is encompassed in the large area known as Alor. 

At the entrance to this big bay, on the island of Kawula, is a dive site called Bacatan Ledges. A drift dive will take you past a wall full of sea fans and sponges with a chance to see schooling jacks and pelagics such as eagle rays, tunas and sharks. Inside the bay is the sea mount of Takat Prau and the reef and sand of Padang Pasir. Takat Prau has a small wooden fishing boat on one side of the pinnacle. During the day, the reef at Padang Pasir holds delights such as pyjama cardinal fish, juvenile barramundi cod and stonefish, and at night stargazers, crocodile flatfish and demon stingers emerge from the sand. 

On to the Pantar Strait which is formed between the islands of Alor and Pantar. Alor is home to the holy grail of fish, Rhinopias, and there are several dive sites where there is a good chance to find them. In the Pantar Strait is the island of Pura, right in the middle of the channel. Anemone City is one of the highlights of this area, the reef is entirely covered in anemones, a rare phenomenon. We will look out for passing sharks, wobbegong sharks hiding in the big coral heads and maybe even get lucky and see mola mola. 

Yan Village on Pura is where you will be greeted by ladies selling ikats, the traditional weaving of this area. The children on Pura make goggles out of wood and bottle tops and they love to greet divers on the surface and underwater. There’s several dive sites at Yan Village. We can dive the sandy slopes in front of the village to look for Rhinopias, enjoy the coral covered wall and look for mandarin fish in the shallow hard coral reefs. Reta island is also in the Pantar Strait. Here there are deep walls covered in stunning corals. There are huge barrel sponges and giant frogfish have been spotted here. 

Kalabahi Bay is on the island of Alor. This bay is where you will experience the fantastic muck diving of Alor. Alongside Rhinopias we will look for all types of octopus, frogfish, ghost pipefish, squid, cuttlefish, weird and wonderful shrimps and nudibranchs galore! Mucky Mosque, Rocky Church, Tanjung Pancoran and the Pertamina Jetty are some of the dive sites inside Kalabahi. Alor is home to an ancient tribe called the Abui. During any cruise to Alor, Coralia will take a half day off from diving to visit a traditional village to watch and take part in dances and ceremonies of these friendly people. 

We will also spend a day at Beang Abang. This bay is on the island of Pantar. At the front of the village is a huge expanse of sand where we will look for the weird and wonderful critters who make this kind of environment their home. We have seen mimic and wonderpus octopus, Ambon scorpionfish, hairy frogfish, Rhinopias, all sorts of amazing things. At the west corner of the bay is a rocky dive site called Tanjung Kanang where you can see amazing corals, including sea apples, a colourful round sea cucumber. 

On the way back to Maumere we will go to Waiwowan on the island of Adonara. This is a full day of muck diving where we will look for Rhinopias. Rare shrimp, mimic octopus, candy crabs, cuttlefish, leaf fish, frogfish, ghost pipefish have all been spotted here. 

The last two dives of the cruise will be at Pulau Babi, close to Maumere. Here the walls are decorated with huge gorgonian sea fans and pygmy seahorses make these their home. Nudibranchs, moray eels, lionfish and a myriad of reef fish live at Babi. The topography at one dive site is fascinating, with a huge crack seemingly splitting one side of the island in two. After the two dives, you can relax on board, have a massage and pack during our short crossing to Maumere. We will enjoy our goodbye dinner inside the harbour.

On disembarkation day, the Coralia team will equally assist you from Coralia to the airport.

Sample itineraries are for guidance only. Actual itineraries may differ slightly due to factors such as weather, wildlife, logistics and local regulations.