Province of Batangas.
09 June 2012
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| Boat Ride |
I had been curious about Taal Volcano since I started climbing mountains. I had this volcano in my bucket list for so long.
We left Manila around 6:30AM. There were 9 of us our guide Bani included. Travel from Manila to Talisay in Batangas province takes about 2 hours. We reached our jump-off point past 8:30AM.
From the jump-off point, we boarded 2 motor boats and crossed the green Taal lake toward an island at the center of the lake. The island is actually a crater overlapping each other, according to Wikipedia.
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| Taal Volcano Island |
To my surprise, the main crater of the volcano is not the usual crater shown on postcards. The main crater actually is at the middle of the crater island.
Just before 9AM, we reached the crater island of the volcano and registered. We started our trek at exactly 9AM. Trekking from the tourism/registration office takes about 45minutes along an open trail.
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| Horse Ride |
We were offered to ride a horse going to the main crater of the volcano, but we preferred to walk. The trail is open and although dusty, it is very nice.
We reached the main crater of the volcano 5 minutes before 10AM. At the crater rim, there were huts selling coconut juice and souvenir t-shirts. The deep-green colored crater is breathtaking.
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| Trail |
There is a tiny island inside the crater near the other side of the crater rim. We stayed there for an hour to enjoy the relaxing view of the crater, the surroundings and for photos.
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| Taal volcano crater |
We started our descent at 11AM and reached the registration office past 11:30AM. On board the boat, we crossed the green-colored lake and reached the jump-off point 12:00noon, took a shower and enjoyed the warm water of the swimming pool and tidy up.
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| Rock tip at the crater |
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| Crater rim |
We left the jump-off point around 12:45PM and had our lunch at a restaurant nearby. The foods were simply delicious. Crispy pata, Pakbet tagalog, Bulalo and Sisig were all good. We headed back to Manila at around 2PM and reached the drop-off point 4PM. Taal trek was my shortest and quickest trek so far.
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