Dive Day #6 - Alor - Oh The Places We've Been!

22 Apr 2023

Yet another beautiful sunrise from the sundeck:

Unfortunately, we hit some serious head current (not sure if that’s the right term- the current was flowing against us) on our trip here so we were running behind schedule. I should have written down the exact numbers, but I think we were making a whopping 2 knots, so the captain asked to deploy the sail:

The sails on this ship are mostly just for show- the boat has 3 powerful motors that can cruise at 8-9 knots, but with the current flowing against us and the wind behind us, he figured it was worth a shot:

and it worked! We gained an extra 0.7 knots!

Our first dive will be off the island on the right:

Dive #15 – Current Alley

Map by Nora Niggs

With a name like Current Alley, I didn’t have high hopes for this dive- I’m not a fan of strong currents. Sure, big things sometimes cruise through, but it’s really hard to get pictures when the current rips you past cool fish before you can focus on them.

However, this was my 200th dive!

so there was no way I’d sit this one out. And I’m glad I didn’t- the current wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought it would be.

Phyllidia elegans:

A school of squirrelfish:

Squarespot anthias:

Even at a distance, they stand out- their coloration is so pretty!

Solor boxfish:

Goldbelly damselfish:

Another beautiful but shy fish

Lizardfish:

This little goby is guarding the hole while a shrimp clears out the sand, but I was never quite quick enough to get a shot of the helper shrimp:

A pair of little Longnose filefish!

Other fish would dart out of the coral to chase them away- I have no idea why- poor fishes 🙁

A school of suspicious Green chromis:

(they would duck back into their coral protection if you got to close)

Giant clam:

After our dive, we relocated into the bay on the west side of Alor and, because of the tide times, will be spending the night here:

After lunch, a couple boats came up to our boat:

It’s common in this area for the women to come aboard visiting boats with their textile goods for sale and set up a market:

Lots of beautiful woven scarves and blankets, but I have so many similar items I’ve picked up in my travels to Ecuador that I don’t really use, so I didn’t buy anything this time, though several other people on my boat did.

The kids from the coastal villages also came by our boat in boats they had made:

The crew let them aboard and handed out goggles, left over from a program meant to get local kids interested about the ocean and invested in protecting its reefs and marine life (we handed out lots on my Raja Ampat trip)

Dive #16 – Mucky Mosque

We’ll be spending the next couple days diving around Alor and most of it will be muck diving! I’m not great at finding things, but I do enjoy hunting around in the muck trying to find cool critter to photograph and fortunately, the guides are all great spotters! This first dive site is off shore from a mosque, hence the site name:

Unfortunately, the waters around Alor tend to be cooler- most dives here were around 77* (and my computer did record 75* briefly on one dive- brr!), whereas previous dives had been 82-84*. My 5mm wetsuit kept me warm enough for the earlier dives but, knowing we might hit some cooler temps, I ordered a hooded vest to try out. Usually I just throw my 3mm suit over my 5mm suit, which keeps me warm enough, but is a pain to get into and limits my range of motion- I had hoped that by keeping my core and head warm, but leaving my arms and legs free, I could stay warm and still move well.

Spoiler alert: it worked! I could tell that the water was cooler, but it didn’t bother me. This might be my new go-to set up for cooler waters!

Map by Nora Niggs

Seahorse!

Someone nibbled the arms off this sea star:

Reticulated sandperch:

Pipefish!!!

I didn’t realize until I loaded this picture up on my phone, but he’s got eggs on his belly! (the males carry the fertilized eggs until they hatch)

Scorpionfish:

A family of Sharpnosed puffers:

Yikes! A moray showing off his teeth:

Leaf scorpionfish:

Another ringed pipefish!

Another leaf scorpionfish:

Lionfish #1:

Lionfish #2:

Speckled filefish:

A whole family of dark Nemos:

(yes, they have teeth and yes, they will nip at you if you get too close)

This Coral wrasse was just laying on bottom like this, trying to sleep:

Spiny devilfish:

Look at his cool pectoral fins!

Seahorse!

A cool looking urchin:

Yes, these razorfish really do swim vertically:

A pair of Orange-dashed gobies:

Juvenile sweetlips- this guy would not stay still for pictures:

Moorish idol:

These little fish picked a very safe place to rest for the night:

Striped puffer:

I was reasonably confident when I took this picture to show my guide that it would be a nudibranch (those skinnier parts on the left are his rhinophores):