Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
Sea Sabres
Diving East Indonesia off
the Kararu
By Allen Jones
We
spent 12 days on the "Kararu" leaving out of Kupang, West Timor
and went north to dive Alor, Pantar and
Wetar islands. This area is only
visited on two trips/year by Kararu and possible by one other
boat. It is very rarely dove
and is the most pristine area we have seen in 24 years of diving. Water was 76-80* and usually
clear. It rained every
day. Macro was very good but not much W/A. Very
few fish over 6" were seen and we
can not understand why, as there was minimal fish traps and no bombing where we were!
Best critter was a brick red juvenile Rinopeaus with no fin openings.
The 135' Kararu had 16 divers and a crew of 18, plus two dive masters/ program directors and also guest dive master Larry Smith. Larry had dove this area in previous years and contributed greatly to the locations and over all diving. Notwithstanding a problem he had several years ago, he is still one of the most highly enthusiastic and knowledgeable divers we have ever had the pleasure of diving with.
The food and service were outstanding and we would dive on Kararu again.
Best dive sites were the Pertimina pier at Alor and Benga-Beng beach on Wetar.
Depending on our location, we had to time our dives with the tides as they can get very fierce in this area. Didn't even try for "Kal's Dream". This area is not for beginners.
We then went to Secret Bay on north western coast of Bali for two days with Dive-N-Dive. Water was 76* and we were fore warned that "some of the fish have left!"
Didn't
see any Mimics and few ghost pipe fish, but it was still good
macro. Got some shots of lime green Ambon scorpions and also
pictured dragonets. We would rate this below Milne Bay or KBR. But
then all sites can run hot and cold at any time. If you go here,
request room at the "new location" about 5 minutes from the dive
shop. A family on the property cooked for us. We did 3 day and 1
night dives for two days; about right!
All arrangements were made for us by Cindi at cindi@divediscovery.com
Anyone needing more info, please contact me directly,
Allan Jones
Baggage issuse for International Travel
Find
out more about diving off the Kararu
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Updated September 15, 2003