Advanced Indonesia
Alor and Pantar
The strait between the two islands: where the archipelago's flow gets choked
Between the islands of Alor and Pantar there's a strait through which, four times a day, an almost unimaginable volume of water passes. It's the same kind of phenomenon that made Komodo famous, in a lesser-known and often stronger version.
In this guide you'll find what sets the strait apart from the general Alor entry, how its channels work, what diving them demands, when to go, and why planning around the tide here isn't optional.
It's one of the most serious current stretches in the Indonesian archipelago, the place where the difference between diving with the tide and diving against it stops being theoretical.
Geography and access
The strait separates the islands of Alor and Pantar, at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda arc, and forms part of the passage through which the Pacific drains into the Indian Ocean across the archipelago.
That passage gets choked here between two landmasses, and the result is an enormous volume of water crossing a narrow channel with every tidal cycle.
The biological consequence is the expected one: saturated soft coral, huge gorgonians, dense schools, and very high productivity. The practical consequence is that every dive plan depends on the tide table.
The strait also receives the cold upwelling that characterizes the whole area, so the water temperature is noticeably lower than the latitude would suggest.
Access is the same as for Alor: several domestic flights and a local transfer, with diving organized from a handful of lodges or from a liveaboard.
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