WorldEast Timor › Cova Lima › Digger

Digger 60.5

#3133 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇹🇱 East Timor · Cova Lima · near Dili

Wind is the enemy here, peaks in July, boardshorts water.

Warm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Surf score60.5 /100
Surfable days58% of the year
Clean days4% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell4% period 11 s+
Typical size0.7 m 2.2 ft median
Water29°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Digger

The best time to surf Digger is July, September, October. It rarely works. In July the water sits around 28°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.9 m. The nearest airport is DIL (94 km) and the nearest town is Dili (95 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan47%2%0.6 m29°Cboardies
Feb45%1%0.6 m29°Cboardies
Mar15%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Apr40%2%0.5 m30°Cboardies
May92%4%0.9 m30°Cboardies
Jun91%2%1.0 m29°Cboardies
Jul98%12%0.9 m28°Cboardies
Aug90%3%0.8 m28°Cboardies
Sep74%5%0.7 m28°Cboardies
Oct54%5%0.6 m29°Cboardies
Nov17%0%0.5 m30°Cboardies
Dec32%1%0.5 m30°Cboardies

What is under Digger

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 784 m, deep right up to the door, so swell arrives with its energy intact. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 2018 m against 784 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out784 m
Depth 4 km out68 m
Channel beside it2018 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 60.5

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
29.3
Best days 22.4%
4.9
Clean days 18.4%
1.2
Consistency 10.2%
6.6
Season spread 4.1%
1.9
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
2.3

The detail

Faces 145° with 47% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 84% of days. Mean peak period 9.5 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.1 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 83%. Months that work: 6 of 12. Coordinates -9.356, 125.274 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€629/ month
typically €554 – €704
Rent, one bedroom€332
Groceries€132
Eating out€76
Getting around€42
Phone + internet€47
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,220/ month
typically €1,080 – €1,370
Somewhere to stay€722
Eating out€259
Car, transfers, fuel€166
Data + extras€76
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for East Timor (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

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Spots nearby

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