Taal Volcano

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Submitted by Pasakat on Sat, 10/23/2010 - 9:25am

Pasakat Mountaineers - Manila
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Taal Volcano, in the Philippines, has been called the smallest active volcano in the world. It is located about 70-km south of Manila on an island inside a lake called Taal Lake. What makes Taal Volcano more unique is the fact that the volcano itself has a lake of its own inside its crater which is called the "Crater Lake." One can even swim inside the Crater Lake but don't stay too long because the lake's water is a very diluted form of sulfuric acid with high concentration of boron, magnesium, aluminum and sodium in salt form. The first recorded scuba dive inside the crater was made by a team led by Thomas Hargrove in 1986 to a depth of about 20 meters or 60 feet. There is even a tiny island in the Crater Lake which Hargrove's team also explored.

Taal Volcano, one of the Philippines' 22 active volcanoes inside the so called Pacific Ring of Fire, usually marveled at from Tagaytay City by people trying to escape the heat of Metro Manila, is in itself a tourist destination for adventurers looking for a different high by hiking/trekking to the crater lake within Taal lake which is actually a crater of a big caldera.

As you gaze downwards to the green, 2-km wide Crater Lake, volcanic steam would effuse up the vents at the NE edge of the lake, and varicolored rocks layer the cliffs that wall the lake. You could trek all the way using down the lake using alternate trails, taking ~30 minutes, and take a refreshing swim. The waters beneath are 20m deep, and are mildly sulfuric. Amazingly, there is an island in the crater lake, called Vulcan Point. It is thus an island within a lake within an island within a lake within an island!

The summit of Taal Volcano is also an excellent viewpoint, affording a view of the above-mentioned mountains forming a ‘circle’ around Taal. The volcanic edificies of Taal, The nearby structures, including the crater of Mt. Tabaro (site of the most recent eruptions) and its lava fields (SW), can also be explored given ample time. The Kaygabok shoreline is the jump-off for this trek although interconnecting trails do exist (ask the local guides). In the summit and throughout the volcano, the winds are refreshing and the views even more so: Taal Volcano is one of the best daytrips from Manila.

Taal Volcano