Tagaytay, Philippines -- Home of Lake Taal

Tagaytay City is in the Philippine Province of Cavite and is nestled along the top of the Tagaytay Ridge--a circular ridge that surrounds the Taal Lake and Volcano, on the Philippine island of Luzon, about 56km (35mi) south of Manila. From the Tagaytay Ridge, you can see Manila Bay to the North, Taal Volcano and Taal Lake in the Province of Batangas to the south, and Laguna Bay to the east. Tagaytay City is at 640m (2,100ft) above sea level--and is the highest point in Cavite.

Whether you use the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) from Manila or the Coastal Road Expressway (CREX) and the Aguinaldo Highway, Tagaytay is about a 1-1/2 hour drive from Manila.

If you use the SLEX, take the Carmona Exit and drive through the Governor's Drive and Silang to the entrance of Tagaytay City, or take the Santa Rosa exit going straight to Tagaytay City. (The SLEX was having major construction when we drove there in late December 2008--so expect some delays.)

There are two possible ways to get to Tagaytay via the Coastal Road:

You can take the Coastal Road to the Aguinaldo Highway and continue south, or use the Indang and Mendez Roads in the Trece Martires City and Amadeo areas.

Make sure you get a map (maybe at the National Bookstores at any SM Mall?) to help you with directions.

You can also take any of the regular buses that go from Manila to this area--or, you can usually get a car and driver from one of the hotels. Be careful with your selection of drivers (and check the car--air conditioning is helpful!).

Lake Taal and the Taal Volcano are the main tourist attractions for Tagaytay City and many of the other towns and villages around the lake.

The Taal Volcano is a stratovolcano caldera that has formed a lake (Lake Taal) containing smaller volcanic cone islands. The main lake/caldera was formed by an earlier extremely powerful eruption and is one of the Philippine active volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire".

Since the major eruption that created the original caldera and lake, subsequent eruptions have created another volcanic island inside the caldera--Volcano Island. This island covers about 23 square kilometers... and consists of many overlapping cones and craters--47 cones and craters have been identified.

But this isn't all. Volcano Island contains a lake about 2 km across--called Crater Lake--that contains another small volcanic island, called Vulcan Point. Vulcan point is claimed to be the world's largest volcanic island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island. Others claim that Vulcan Point is the world's smallest volcanic island in a lake. It depends, I guess, on how you look at it. I've got some pictures here that you can look at to make your own decision.

Volcanologists measuring the concentration of radon gas in the soil on Volcano island in October 1994 measured an anomalous increase of the radon concentration by a factor of six. This increase was followed 22 days later by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on November 15, centered about 50 km south of Taal, off the coast of Luzon.

A typhoon had passed through the area a few days before the radon spike was measured, but when Typhoon Angela, one of the most powerful to strike the area in ten years, crossed Luzon on almost the same track a year later, no radon spike was measured. Therefore, so the scientists determined that typhoons were not a cause of radon spikes--and that the radon was released from the stress accumulation preceding the earthquake. This observation may also have found a way to better predict eminent eruptions.

Another observation at Taal was that before the 1965 eruption, Taal's lake temperature rose several degrees above normal--but the lake temperature increases have not always preceded eruptions. Sometimes, the release of acidic volcanic gases into the lake has created observable major "fish-kills".

All of these characteristics of the Taal Volcano and Taal Lake are monitored constantly by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). They release regular notices of the volcano's status.

• Josephine's Restaurant--We ate at this restaurant when we finally arrived in Tagaytay. Rather than sitting inside (which DOES have a fabulous view), we opted to sit outside on the veranda overlooking the awesome view of Taal Volcano and Lake Taal. The breeze was cool, and the food was delicious. We got a lot of pictures here while we were waiting for a meal of fresh coconut juice ("buko"), grilled tilapia, steamed rice ("kainin"), banana lumpia "turon", and "halo halo".
  


• Tagaytay Picnic Grove--The Tagaytay Picnic Grove provides all sorts of activities, including: horseback riding, shopping for fruits and souvenirs, taking in the sights of the Taal Volcano from the view deck. Tagaytay Picnic Grove overlooks the Taal Volcano Lake and coastal towns of Batangas with a site of 13.5 hectares., it offers various facilities such as accommodations, dining, function hall and picnic areas. Recent additions to its facilities are cottages and a viewdeck with restaurant.