Sol Mañanero…my Second Life Home

~Swish…Swish…Swish~

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I have never seen a river that I could not love. Moving water . . . has a fascinating vitality. It has power and grace and associations. It has a thousand colors and a thousand shapes, yet it follows laws so definite that the tiniest streamlet is an exact replica of a great river. — Roderick Haig-Brown

As I shared in my last post, our sim was primarily recreated in the last month.  Our love of nature needed to be shared outwardly and with all, and now we have done that.  I’ve enjoyed inviting people over to see the changes, showing them what we have to offer and taking them out for a paddle in a kayak!

Kayaking…, a new activity for me in SL, is truly my fave addition to our sim.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love love love the beauty of the sim most!  But…for something to do and something that can be shared…kayaking rocks!

We offer the Galiko kayak rezzer in our stream.  Here you can rez a kayak for one, a kayak for two and even a kayak for tinies!   Now, the realism of these kayaks is just awesome.  The sculpt is wonderfully done and the options are great for the rezzer system.  The animation is very realistic as well.  And if you listen closely (with sounds turned up), there are even  sounds that will put you right into the activity -swish, swish, swish – as your paddle moves through the water.

Now all that said, getting started with the Kayak isn’t the most intuitive as there are a few things you should know.  I set up a notecard giver to give quick hints, but in case you jump in and forget the notecard, the first thing to do is – click on the kayak to get your paddle (delivered to inventory) and then if the menu is gone, click on the kayak again to display the menu.  There is a button that will provide a guide and the menu provides buttons to help you change the color of the kayak (all components), turn up the volume, or you can just GO FOR IT and hit !

Once you do click on , your kayak will be on the move and off the rezzer platform.  You will guide your kayak using the right and left arrow keys only.  The speed will drive the direction in which you float and is controlled by the up and down arrows.  As soon as you click the up arrow to 1 or 2, you will start moving slowly forward.  Be careful, don’t hit that rock!  *wink*   It will take you some time to get a feel for the guiding and how the speed impacts that.  Of course, if you are in a “tight” area, you’ll keep the speed lower, and open water…well… let ‘er rip!  The max speed with the up arrow is 5, but you can hit pg up and be in full velocity!  The down arrow reduces the speed and if you go below 0, you will be backing up…sometimes quite necessary to get out of a hairy situation!  Oh, and if you just wanna stop, hit the pg dwn key and the speed will go to 0!

On our sim, you can canoe through the river/stream and the perimeter of our main sim before heading over the sim border to our surf sim.  Open water here, so enjoy dodging the waves!  Beware of shallow water areas as they are tricky and present a bit of a challenge at times!   Just be patient and you will find that it can be a most pleasant mode of travel…and the viewpoint is incredibly different!

Now if you have your own kayak and want to put it in the water at Sol Mañanero, just find the rez area on the beach, launch and explore!  I hope you will take the time to enjoy our little world from the surface of the water…it can be a fun, funny, beautiful, calming, peaceful, challenging, enjoyable experience…all rolled up in one!

’til next time…explore, enjoy, find the beauty in Second Life,

~Sunshine

Invitation to Sol Mañanero

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Originally uploaded by °•♫•°:.Sunshine.:°•♫•°

~❀~❤~❀~ Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet,
and the winds long to play with your hair. ~Kahlil Gibran ~❀~❤~❀~

We have made quite a few changes to Sol Mañanero and we want to share these with you. We still offer surfing and diving, but also have nature trails, more waterfalls, and canoeing. It is a beautiful spot to relax and listen to the sounds of nature.

Join us on Sunday, April 25th at 7pm SLT for an Open House on Sol Mañanero. Celebrate the end of Earth Day weekend with us as DJ Azufr3 Catteneo provides the sounds and we party by the pool!

Dress up in your best JUNGLE attire and get ready to have fun!

Before you arrive, please set your environment to Region Default ( World>Environment settings>Revert to Region Default ) When you arrive, give yourself a few minutes to rez. Then follow the path of lights… through the wild beach and up to our home.

We look forward to seeing you on Sol Mañanero!!

Jac Mornington and Sunshine Zhangsun

~~Dive into Beauty~~

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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