One Dollar Beach or Dollar Beach ( pt, Praia do Dólar, tet, Tasi-ibun Dolar) is a public beach on the north coast of East Timor, east north east of

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

, the capital city. It is long, white, sandy and clean, and also frequently deserted, yet popular with beach users at other times.

Etymology

The beach's name dates back only to about the start of this century, when East Timor was a

United Nations protectorate This is a list of territories which are directly administered, or once were, by the United Nations (UN). These are not to be confused with UN trust territories, which were run by a single country under a UN mandate. List Current Former Se ...

. At that time, local people would charge visitors for every car arriving and parking at the beach.

Geography

Long, spacious and frequently deserted, the beach is nevertheless popular at other times with families, including children, and also tourists and travellers. It is located in the ''

suco The administrative posts (former subdistricts) of East Timor are subdivided into 442 ''sucos'' ("villages") and 2,336 ''aldeias'' ("communities").http://www.unmiset.org/legal/RDTL-Law/RDTL-Minist-Orders/Decree-Order-2003-6.pdf List of sucos by ...

'' of , about or a 45 minute drive east north east of Dili. The beach is composed of clean, soft snow-white sand sloping gently towards the water. It forms part of the south shore of

Wetar Strait Wetar Strait ( id, Selat Wetar, pt, Estreito de Wetar, tet, Estreitu Wetar) is an international strait in Southeast Asia. It separates the island of Wetar from the eastern part of the island of Timor. The strait is also the eastern portion o ...

. The sea floor near the shore is sandy and the water is crystal-clear. Further out, there is a reef suitable for

snorkelling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

. Often visible from the shore are pods of

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

s, and, in season, also whales. Underwater attractions at the reef include

tropical fish Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a gene ...

and

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

s. The beach is part of the Subaun

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA), which is in size. The IBA extends from sea level to the isolated peak of

Mount Curi Mount Curi is a mountain in Manatuto District, East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the islan ...

, and is mostly steep to moderately steep hills. Below about

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, its dominant vegetation is ''

Eucalyptus alba ''Eucalyptus alba'', commonly known as white gum, khaki gum or poplar gum, is a species of tree that is native to Australia, Timor, and New Guinea. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowe ...

'' savanna woodland, with a tall understorey of mostly '' Heteropogon'' and ''

Themeda ''Themeda'' is a genus of plants in the grass family native to Asia, Africa, Australia, and Papuasia. There are about 18Barkworth, M. E''Themeda''.Grass Manual. Flora of North America. to 26Potdar, G. G., et al. (2003)A new species of ''Themeda'' ...

'' grasses.

Facilities

There are few facilities at the beach other than a handful of restaurants or stalls, which offer inexpensive fish meals.

References

External links

{{authority control Beaches of East Timor Manatuto Municipality

Etymology

Geography

Facilities

See also

References

External links