22-Feb-2015 -- This is the first out of 5 reports, describing confluence visits in the Philippines. One visit (this visit) remained incomplete and within another visit an unvisited confluence point was successfully documented.
We visited our niece who is currently working as an English teacher in the Philippines. When we arrived, she had a program meeting south of Manila. We arrived at a weekend such that the group had planned to visit Volcano Island located in the Lake Taal. We were invited to join in.
It is quite a coincidence that there is a confluence on the little Volcano Island of 23 square kilometres. The chance that such a small island hosts a confluence is about 0.2%. The island offers spectacular scenery with a lake that has an island. Imagine that this is an island on an island on an island!
First, we went to Talisay by two Jeepneys. There we chartered
outrigger boats that brought us to Volcano Island. From the pier, a dusty track took us on the ridge of the crater. The dustiness comes from thousands of horses that carry tourists to the top. I have learned that Filipinos avoid walking if the travel distance exceeds 100 m. And the trip to the top is more than one kilometer.
The problem was that we had reached the north side of the ride but the confluence is located on the southern side. So I tried to walk clockwise along the edge. When I had reached about one third of my way, the path suddenly ended. I began to climb down a steep grade through the bushes, but progress was too slow in order to be back at the pier in time. The total time for the stay on the island was 2 hours. Since I was traveling with a group, I had to respect the agreement. At a remaining distance of 2 km, I turned around.
The correct way to visit the confluence is an approach from the south-east of the island. There is also a pier and a footpath to the ridge. However, we had to leave the island with the group and did not investigate time for another attempt later.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance to a road: 5000 m
- Distance to a track: 1000 m
- Distance of the pier: 4000 m
- Time to reach the point of return from the pier: 40 minutes
- Time at the point of return: 1:35 PM
- Measured height: 249 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 2030 m
- Position accuracy: 12 m
- Topography: mountainous
- Vegetation: grass, bushes.
- Weather: sunny, 27° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Volcano Island Confluence
The story continues at 11°N 124°E. More pictures about our trip can be found here.