Baja Cove

By Bixyl Shuftan

While 2020 was a year full of anxiety for many Second Life residents, it ended on a sad note for the residents of a place called Baja Cove. One of the people whom rented there told me on December 31, it was about to be closed.

"Baja Cove is shutting down cause Covid19 lost the sim owner her job," she told me, "I lost my private getaway. It was a beautiful New Jersey-like beach." She would tell me she once rented a beach house in the area.

The owner of the estates, Lauren Bentham, had announced the closing.

It is with a very heavy heart for me to say that due to personal rl issues I am needing to close down my Baja Rental Sims effective immediately.

It breaks my heart to do so with so many loyal renters over the years but I am faced with no choice,  I love you all and am very thankful for the fun years I have had creating and owning the Baja rental sims, I have no money to sustain the sims and no money to offer refunds to anyone I am so sorry about that. I will not discuss this any further it would hurt far to much.

Love and Best wishes to each and every one of you, keep safe and look after each other,

Checking the map, the area consisted of four sims: Baja Cove, Baja Bay, Baja Norte, and Baja Isles. They were all residential sims. A fifth sim, Baja Coast, was non-residential and not renting out to people, though people could still head there and walk around. 

When I decided to visit the following day, I found only Baja Coast was accessible. The others were closed to me. Arriving at Coast, the entry area had some landmark givers to the other sims, and a lot of picturesque scenery. 

The land was all sand dunes with the water never far away, with beach grass and palm trees. 

There were also shacks, fencing, and walkways that looked weathered a bit by the salt water. 

There were a couple old boats that had beached and were abandoned.

There were also a few rusty abandoned cars. 

There was also an abandoned amusement park. 

One thing that got my attention was a sign, "Baja Coast Welcomes You," made to look like the sign of the resort down in the "Jaws" movie. 

There was also a still-working lighthouse.

January was a busier month than expected. So I delayed writing about Baja Cove. After a few weeks, I decided to see if Baja Coast was still around. As it turns out, it is, but changed. The place has been given a makeover so people can rent in the sim. In place of the landmark givers to the now gone Baja sims there were others for other places of the owner, Bentham Manor, Arranmore, Everwinter, and Rosewood Hills. As of the writing of this article, all available places have been rented out. But while it's still the same rustic beach atmosphere, much of what was is gone, such as the amusement part and lighthouse.

More pictures can be seen on the Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/groups/baja_norte_official/

Bixyl Shuftan