Nature, our Green Second Life

~~Dive into Beauty~~

/ Sunshine / Leave a comment

If your Second Life is activity based and you enjoy exploring, have you spent any time swimming with the fishes in the blue seas of our virtual world?  If you haven’t, what are you waiting for??  Some time ago, we made changes to the underwater landscape of the Playa Sol Mañanero sim providing an intercoastal type of dive.  Recently, with the other changes on the sim, we have spent some time updating the experience down under too \o/.  So come on over and check it out!


First… if your avatar has some awesome lungs and you can hold your breath for hours, you don’t really need to do more than just walk or swim (fly) under the water for a realistic view of a reef area.  But, where is the fun in that?!?  Better to either put on your scuba gear or perhaps become a mermaid/man and dive in for the full experience.  If you are wondering just where to get that scuba gear, you are in luck!  We have a HEPS equipment vendor for rental gear (5L/minute) and have just opened Sol Mañanero Scuba, if you want to really do it right!

Once you are all geared up and ready for this shore dive, just walk out into the waters of Sol Mañanero and let your diving gear take over.  A shore dive is one where you can just walk out from land to enjoy.  These are quite often considered, our sim not excluded, to also be intercoastal dives which can offer some of the most varied and popular sea life.  As you cross the sim border, you will enter the world under the waters of Playa Sol Mañanero. where you will find sea turtles, rays, sharks and fish swimming and swirling all about the aquatic vegetation.  Look out for wreckage as well… yep, sadly our reef has been the demise of several sea and air going vehicles *wink*   I find swimming underwater in Second Life to be rather peaceful, a moment to enjoy for one’s self.  And if you are suited up  with the appropriate gear, you will also hear your breathing regulator apparatus enhancing the experience.  The ability to see the re-creation of real world sea-going creatures, flora and other items of interest, just add to that moment.

Now, Sol Mañanero is not the only place that you can find such wonderous under sea adventures.  The PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructor) sims called Dive World offer a great environment and the complex supports the world of diving.  On the HEPS website, you can find other locations as well (gear rental and diving).    For a fantastical undersea adventure, check out Syncretia sim where you can suit up with a free skin and gear, including ears and tail, and head underwater to find some very unusual creative scenes.

All in all, diving is just another fun adventure that we can experience year-round in Second Life.  So brush the snow from your hair, and sit in your comfy chair and allow your avatar to explore… while you remain warm and dry!

’til next time,

~Sunshine

…Ch.ch.ch.changess…

/ Sunshine / Leave a comment

…Sprinting across the sand, burn off my feet
Hit the surf running and don’t miss a beat
Take my place bobbing, out in the swell
Turn and spin and paddle like hell

Feel the wave grabbing and jump to my feet
A bottom carve turn like I’ve never seen
Six quick snaps and a floater inside
kick out the back, a nice f’ing ride

But that’s Okay, That’s okay another day on it’s way
It’s a beautiful day (yeah)
It’s a beautiful day…(“Surf Song” by Bag of Toys)


Yes…  we love changes!   And the newest one at Sol Mañanero Surf is on the surf sim.  The Joaquina wave has rezzed!  The latest creation by HP Designs was recently available and as soon as Jac heard about it, it was off to Crab Island where the HP team creates, tests, and enjoys!  We found the new wave to be visually pleasing and such a smoooth ride!  So… yep… we have added another wave to Jac’s inventory and we are one of the first sims to offer the Joaquina to the Second Life Surfing crowd!

When you buy a new type of wave, you get it home and then rezz it for the first time to see just how it works…and then you realize, you might just have to make some changes.  Our friend and the mastermind behind HP, Leogarto Burt, came over to assist and after much deliberation on what would work best (even went so far to have a double wave firing off), we found that our beautiful pier was, well, yep, just was in the way!  Soooo… Jac asked me to remove it, and with the awareness that in SL, all can be re-built, I took up each piece and our beach front/shorebreak changed once again.

After much work with terraforming the floor of the ocean and placement of rocks and objects, the Joaquina was firing beautifully and we had surfers ripping across the wave soon after!  This wave is indeed a beauty.  The color, the texture, the particles, the curl… all in all, it crashes towards the beach allowing for great shredding opportunities!

So now… our pier is gone and the beach front has been reworked, the break looks awesome!  The placement of splashing rocks and the corrective work on the water effects keep the beach of Sol Mañanero Surf looking as beautiful as ever.   🙂

’til next time…

~Sunshine

The New Sol Escondido!

/ Sunshine / Leave a comment

As mentioned in my last post, we are making changes to our little estate.  Sol Escondido had first been set up as a cabana rental community offering a private, natural environment for each unit.  As there was not enough interest for the smaller size rentals, but some interest from visitors to live on a sim that was terraformed/landscaped similarly with such beauty, we decided to re-create the sim.  With two confirmed residents already each requesting 1/3 of the sim, Jac decided he would offer 3 total parcels so that each would have 1000-1200 prim each.  The first two residents are close friends and wanted their SL home to be together, but separate with the ability to just “walk on over” so these two parcels are on a single larger ‘island’.   This island has three waterfalls with the largest separating the two parcels with a water way emptying into the ocean.  Jac provided a bridge so that the friends would not have to wade through the water to visit!

Waterfalls are integral with our estate and Sol Escondido is no exception!  The larger island has three waterfalls all fed from an elevated spring-fed pool.  This placement of falls and pools is becoming quite the trademark for Jac, offering our residents a lovely place to while away the hours alone or with friends.  Our current residents in both areas love this feature so I hope that we can continue to offer similar spots for all!

The third parcel on Sol Escondido exists on its own private island, terraformed and landscaped beautifully… again with multiple waterfalls spilling into the ocean or coves emptying into the ocean.  This sweet island will provide an awesome home site with water access, great views, lots of privacy and wonderful neighbours.  I truly doubt it will be available for very long… If you are interested in finding out more, please contact me in world!

The entire estate is always changing, always beautiful, always relaxing… and welcoming 🙂   So… if you need a respite from the everyday SL world and you want to relax on the beach or surf along the waves, come by and see us soon…

Until next time… enjoy life!

~Sunshine~