ALOR & FLORES – Arenui the Boutique Liveaboard

DISCOVER ALOR
WITH
ARENUI LIVEABOARD

Alor and Flores offer undiscovered diving treasures! Join the exclusive list of divers who can boast of exploring these remarkable dive sites!

As well as being one of the best kept secrets for diving in paradise, including rare finds like the beautiful rhinopias but also plenty of pelagic action, this area boasts stunning topside scenery and impressive volcanoes.

Cruises in Alor and Flores offer widespread muck diving, sharks and large schools of fish, WWII wreck dives, untouched reefs and unexplored coral gardens, magnificent soft corals and stunning hard coral formations. We also visit the famous Pura Island villagers, who splash out of their wooden dugout canoes and dive underwater with home-made goggles fashioned from wood and glass bottles.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Located in a highly volcanic region it’s no surprise that the scenery is superb and dramatic but sailing through these remote waters also brings you face-to-face with one of the country’s most active volcanoes. It erupts every 30 minutes and makes for fantastic photographic opportunities, as you take a relaxing break from the fascinating underwater world.

Most cruises that cover the Alor or Flores area start or end at the post of Maumere, on the northern coast of east Flores island. Maumere is roughly 430 nautical miles east of Bali in East Nusa Tenggara province (Nusa Tenggara Timur) – in the Lesser Sunda Islands. This region is home to a world record, established when a scientific expedition recorded 1,200 species of fish, including some new to science, all found in Maumere Bay alone!

Take time out of diving for some land excursions here; trekking through the park to find ‘Varanus Riungensis’ – another giant lizard, slightly smaller and brighter than its cousin on Komodo). Another unmissable land tour is our visit to the traditional village of Bena, where the population has maintained their original way of life – preserving their buildings (such as megalithic tombs) in keeping with their ancient customs. Marvel at the pairs of Ngadhu and Bhaga buildings made solely from wood and cane, (Ngadhus being 3m tall umbrella-shaped structures, representing male ancestors, Bhagas being miniature houses, representing the female ancestors), which together symbolise the continuous presence of the ancestors of every family in the village.

OCEAN LIFE FOCUS

Mantis shrimps, leaf-fish, giant bumphead parrotfish, lionfish, moray eels, cuttlefish, anthias, snappers, angelfish, damselfish, frogfish, ribbon eels, wonderpus and mimic octopus, nudibranchs, weedy scorpionfish, gorgonians, sea fans, soft and hard corals, sponges, dolphins, reef sharks, sperm whales and even whale sharks