A shallow seabed carpeted in anemones for as far as you can see, every one of them occupied, so the whole bay floor twitches…A shallow seabed carpeted in anemones for as far as you can see, every one of them occupied, so the whole bay floor twitches with clownfish. The same bay is a black-sand muck site holding mimic octopus, rhinopias and Ambon scorpionfish, while the strait outside pulls tuna, sharks and barracuda through on the current. Alor was a sandalwood and Dutch-era trading island whose real fame is the moko, small bronze kettle drums traded up from Vietnam and Java centuries ago and still used as bride-price. The diving was mapped only in the 1990s and remains thin on infrastructure, which is exactly why it is intact. Anchorage: Kalabahi Bay is one of the best natural harbours in eastern Indonesia, near-enclosed and deep, with the strait sites a short tender run away. Hazards: Silt goes to zero visibility if finned; the Pantar Strait outside the bay runs hard. Meer