We hope everyone has been keeping safe and staying healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. It certainly has taken the world by surprise and has forced us all to slow down, re-evaluate where we are and where we are going, and to focus on what truly matters. Although we know difficult times still lie ahead, somehow we are also grateful to have these days to re-centre ourselves and enjoy the little things. Truly above all we feel absolutely blessed to be living in a place like Alor, where we still get to go scuba diving and enjoy beautiful sunsets. To top it all off, we have heard and seen regularly over the past days whales passing through the Pantar Strait.
Dives in the Past Week
Several of the dives we have done these last weeks have brought some wonderful surprises. We saw two giant frogfish at Apuri (Clown Valley), several wobbegong sharks (Orectolobus), a Bargibanti pygmy seahorse and a Hawksbill turtle, all around Pura. The wobbegong sharks seen in Alor are different from the tasseled wobbegong shark often spotted in Raja Ampat, it’s generally smaller and not as wide as the tasseled wobbegong shark, and its colour pattern is different from the tasseled as well. Besides the incredible number of anemones and clown fish found in Apuri, we personally love returning to Anemone Fields in South Pura as well, where anemones stretch as far as the eye can see. The coral gardens in Harilolong make one think of the Garden of Eden or a Japanese Zen Garden, where everything is positioned exactly as it should be, perfectly in harmony in its place. Watching fusiliers swim by, we remember how lucky we are to be immersed in this incredible underwater world.
To find out more about the diving in Alor and scuba diving with Alor Tanapi, go to this page: https://alortanapi.com/diving-and-activities/diving/