Taal

Courtesy of Heather: On Saturday, we packed ourselves into yet another rented car and headed south to Taal Lake and Volcano in Talisay. I managed to contact the head of the Taal Lake Yacht Club, who was, ironically, in the US, and he told us we could prepay and he’d give us a discount.  We got the account number for the TLYC, and deposited money right into their Bank of the Philippine Islands account – though we were a little worried that we might have just lost our deposit if the trip didn’t work out.  But, when we arrived at the Yacht Club, we showed the bank receipt and were lead right to a boat for the trip to the Volcano island, in the middle of Taal Lake =).  We even managed to all (6 of us) fit into one boat, even though we were told by the website and email that we would need 2 boats, since the limit is 5 people/boat.  Yay for saving P1,500!  The boat ride was pretty smooth, and the hike up the the volcano was hot and dusty, but the site of the crater lake from the top was worth it.  And, since Taal is an active volcano, there were numerous sulfur gas jets along the way up the mountain.  The last eruption was in 1911, so unfortunately, not much fun lava rock was around.  The scariest part was actually the trip there and back – our driver had a fondness for alternating gas and brake at short intervals, and we’re not sure he had ever tried to drive up mountain switchbacks with a clutch… and few of the girls were feeling a little queasy by the end of the ride.  But overall, it was a successful trip, and we managed to satisfy everybody’s desire to see a “real” volcano (though it is the smallest active volcano in the world).