Romblon · Philippines · Reef · Night
Salvo Beach
Walk-in house reef that doubles as the training and night dive
Area photo: krokodiver · CC BY 2.0
The house reef of The Three P Holiday & Dive Resort, entered straight off the beach a few metres from the shop. It is shallow, 20 metres at most, with low currents, varied underwater landscape and several species of moray eel, and it doubles as the local training site and one of the better night dives.
Also known as Three P's House Reef.
Where it is and how deep
12.5555° N, 122.2491° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
You walk in from the beach in front of the resort, and that sets the tone for the whole dive: no boat, no schedule, and as long in the water as your gas allows. The bottom shelves gently to a maximum of 20 metres, and the ground in between is varied enough underwater landscape to keep a slow dive interesting rather than a flat run out over sand and back again.
Moray eels are the animal to look for, with several different species along the reef, and the abundant life here makes it a fair first look at what Romblon holds. It also works as a night dive: the shore entry means you can go in at dusk without booking a boat, and the low currents and shallow maximum are why the same ground is used for dive training and beginner diving.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Romblon: Nov–Jun is the settled season; typhoons and the south-west monsoon make Jul–Oct unreliable for the boat crossing.
Questions divers ask
Can you dive Salvo Beach from the shore?+
Yes. The site is entered from the beach at The Three P Holiday & Dive Resort on Salvar Beach, about 10 to 15 minutes from Romblon Town, with no boat needed.
Is Salvo Beach good for beginners?+
It is. The maximum depth is 20 metres, currents are low and the entry is from the beach, which is why the site is used for dive training and beginner diving as well as for night dives.
Sources
- Diving in the Philippines — Wikivoyage
More dive sites in Romblon
Channel & pass
Often-strong current turns the channel into a drift
Reef
Reef from two metres down to sand at twenty
Blue hole
A chimney from 5 m to an opening on the reef near 30 m
Fields of big gorgonians at the 35-metre end of the slope
Coral garden
Ghost pipefish, odd shrimps and nudibranchs in the coral
Coral garden
Anemones and coral formations on a reef that drops to 30 m
Sand slope
Giant clams scattered across the sand of a protected bay
Coral garden
A shallow coral canyon on the tip of a rocky islet
Similar dives elsewhere
Reef mantas queue over the sand in 8-15 m of water
One of the island's easiest entries, and a night-dive regular
Staghorn fields at depth, and frogfish after dark
A drop-off 80 m off the beach, from under 2 m to past 40 m