Taal Lake and Volcano

Colorful license plate from the Philippines	For a day trip, I rented a car and drove to Lake Taal	Escape from Manila via the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX)	Southern Tagalog Arterial Road 3 km from Tanauan City
Sambat Exit for Tagaytay and Lake Tall	The first view of Lake Taal, Batangas Province, Luzon	Talisay, on the shores of Taal Lake	Looking south across Lake Taal to Mount Makulot
Fish farms in Lake Taal at the village of Talisay	Viewpoint along the road from Talisay to the Tagaytay Highlands	Lake Taal	Laguna de Taal
Binitiang Malaki last erupted in 1715	Binitiang Malaki, the most distinctive crater on Volcano Island	Lake Taal is the third largest lake in the Philippines	Barangay Leynes on the shores of Lake Taal
Lake Taal, a freshwater lake formed inside a large caldera	Lake Taal from the slope of the Tagaytay Highlands	Volcano Island with Mount Makulot's summit in the clouds across Lake Taal	Lake Taal
Partly cloudy blue sky over Lake Taal from the Tagaytay Highlands	The majority of Volcano Island emerged from the lake in 1911	Barangay Leynes with Lake Taal	Lake Taal from the highlands
Volcano Island and Lake Taal seen through the vegetation	Binitiang Malaki, Volcano Island, Lake Taal	Barangay Leynes, Lake Taal	Barangay Leynes, Lake Taal
Village of Leynes through the trees	Barangay Leynes, Lake Taal	Aquaculture in Lake Taal. Tilapia is a commonly farmed fish	Tilapia cage farming in Lake Taal (Batangas)
Lake Taal and Volcano Island	Lake Taal with the silhouette of a palm tree	House looking a mixture of old and new on the slopes above Lake Taal	Welcome to Barangay Buco (Talisay) Lake Taal
Main road along the north shore of Lake Taal passing through Buco	Main road along the north shore of Lake Taal passing through Buco	Small outrigger boat typical of Lake Taal and the Philippines	Lush shore of Lake Taal at Buco
Guesthouse on the north shore of Lake Taal at Barangay Laynes (Talisay)	The crater of Binitiang Malaki on Volcano Island seen from Leynes	Welcome to Leynes Resort, Lake Taal	Laynes Resort
I stopped at the Leynes Resort for lunch and to arrange a boat trip to Volcano Island	Outrigger on Lake Taal	Small motorized banca (outrigger boat) on Lake Taal	Banca, Laynes Resort, Lake Taal
Banca with Volcano Island in the distance	Motorized bancas can be hired to visit the island but negotiate harder than I did!	Banca, Lake Taal	Banca, Lake Taal
Banca, Lake Taal	Underway for the short crossing from Leynes to Volcano Island	Leynes Resort, Lake Taal	Banca at Leynes on the north shore of Lake Taal
Banca at Leynes on the north shore of Lake Taal	Leynes Resort, Lake Taal	Barangay Leynes on the north shore of Lake Taal	Outrigger boat on Lake Taal
Another small guesthouse in Leynes, Lake Taal	Barangay Leynes, Lake Taal	North shore of Lake Taal looking east	It doesn't look too rough, but these boats give very poor rides and splash quite a bit
Banca passing in front of Binitiang Malaki on Volcano Island	Guesthouse with a nice looking terrace, Lake Taal	Binitiang Malaki on Volcano Island	Leynes to Volcano Island 6.5 km
It's rocking way more than it should...	A boat load of tourists returning from Volcano Island	Luckily for the tourists in the front of that boat, they've got a plastic sheet, otherwise they'd be soaked!	Village of San Isidro on Volcano Island, Lake Taal
Boats pulled up at San Isidro, Volcano Island	Banca tied up to the beach at San Isidro, Volcano Island	Thatched shelters, San Isidro	Highly eroded trail leading from the village up to Taal Volcano
My boat trip included a horse to the summit of Taal Volcano	Volcano Island and Lake Taal with the Tagaytay Highlands on the far shore	Wonder how many times he's gone up this hill...	Binitiang Malaki from the slopes of the Taal Volcano, Volcano Island
Binitiang Malaki from the slopes of the Taal Volcano, Volcano Island	Boy with a horse-load of vegetation coming down the mountain	Volcano Island	The first sign of volcanic activity - steam venting from along the trail
The world's largest lake on an island in a lake on an island	Crater lake of Taal Volcano	Steam vent inside the Taal Volcano crater	Steam vent on the shores of the Crater Lake, Taal Volcano
West rim, Taal Volcano	Lake Taal from the summit of Taal Volcano	Large steam vent in the eroded crater, Taal Volcano	Steam vents along the rim of Taal Volcano
Steam vent, Taal Volcano	Binitiang Malaki from the summit of Taal Volcano	North rim, Taal Volcano	Mount Makulot in the distant southeast
Crater Lake of Taal Volcano	Tourist facilities at the summit of Taal Volcano	Inside the crater of Taal Volcano	Mount Makulot and the east rim of Taal Volcano
An island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island...	Crater Lake, Taal Volcano	Volcano Island, Lake Taal	Late afternoon, Lake Taal's crater lake
Crater Lake, Taal Volcano	Tourist facilities - tshirts, cold drinks, etc - Rim of Taal Volcano	Tourist facilities - tshirts, cold drinks, etc - Rim of Taal Volcano	Tourist village on the rim of the Taal Volano
Volcano Island from the rim of Taal Volcano looking towards Binitiang Malaki	Heading back down to the village, Volcano Island	Odd formations near the top of Taal Volcano	Wildly eroded trail on Taal Volcano
My guide on the horse while I walk a bit...easier to take photos	Fish farms, Lake Taal	Basketball court of the village of San Isidro, Volcano Island	Village of San Isidro, Volcano Island
Outrigger boat at San Isidro, Lake Taal	Wouldn't float upright without the outriggers...	Boat boy of Princess Betty Mae	Outrigger bancas tied up at San Isidro, Lake Taal
Getting ready for the return crossing to Leynes	San Isidro, Volcano Island	Back at the Leynes Resort on the north shore of Lake Taal	Late afternoon, Lake Taal
Banca with Volcano Island in the distance across Lake Taal	Leynes, Lake Taal	Crater of Binitiang Malaki, 4 km from Leynes, with fish farms floating on Lake Taal	License plate, Philippines 2000
Fish farms, Lake Taal	Aquaculture - fish farming, Lake Taal	Fish farms in the northwest end of Lake Taal	Gloria
Northwest shore of Lake Taal	xx	Aquaculture (fish farms) - northwest shore of Lake Taal	Aquaculture (fish farms) - northwest shore of Lake Taal
Binitiang Malaki seen across the paddies around Laurel, on the west side of Lake Taal	Paddies and the crater of Binitiang Malaki	Summit of Binitiang Malaki seen from the west over the trees	Paddies around Laurel, near the west end of the paved road along the north shore of Lake Taal
Paddies at Laurel (Batangas) with the Tagaytay Highlands	Tall palms, Late afternoon	Tall palms and blue sky at Laurel, on the west shore of Lake Taal	Coconut Palm
Palms and Paddies, Laurel	It was getting too late to try and drive the dirt road leading to the highlands west of Laurel...	Pond at Laurel	Waterbuffalo, Laurel
Ponds and palms, Laurel	Laurel, the small town at the end of the paved road around Lake Taal	Turn around time...	Sunset, Lake Taal
Sunset over Lake Taal with a small boat	Boy paddling a small boat at sunset, Lake Taal	Driving back to Manila in the dark...