Physiographers consider Lake Taal as one of the unique world formations. Judging from its shape and surroundings, it is the crater of an immense volcano with an ecliptic shape measuring 12 miles by 17 miles. It is enclosed by a rim which is sharply outlined.  It is several hundred feet in height - except in the south where it is separated from Balayan Bay by a low-land traversed by the Pansipit River. Standing on the rim are several mountains of considerable height and evidently of volcanic origin. Viewed from the Tagaytay Ridge 2,000 feet above, the lake is one of the most picturesque in the islands. No one has ever succeeded to fathom Taal Lake. Decades ago, an airplane with two pilots plunged into the lake and their bodies were never retrieved as divers could not endure the cold water below. At the center of the lake is Taal Volcano. It rises to a height of 1,050 feet and is deemed as the lowest volcano in the world.