The Waterfall Café

 

By Netera Landar

“Indulge in delightful dining amidst vibrant colors, cascading waterfalls, and a legendary Kraken Bar. Discover romance in the underwater observatory, surrounded by mesmerizing marine life. It's a sanctuary of beauty, serenity, and unforgettable moments.”---Katie Luckstone.

At the landing point, yellow, green, and blue foliage shimmers in this underwater conservatory.

The sound of the waterfall is heard the moment you teleport into the café. Yellow, green, and blue foliage shimmer in this underwater conservatory. An orb glows and fades for eternity. A serene vibration loops as you explore the first cavern. Beside the shimmering orb is a photo of a rock formation, and particles rise above the water.

 

Your footsteps muffle through the water as you approach the cavern door and enter a larger chamber. The water here is deeper, nearly up to your knees. On the side walls, the water pours into the chamber.

Unseen chimes ring as you gaze beyond a transparent barrier at the sunken ship. Sea water spills in through the cracks in the barrier.  Two sharks swim above you, not caring about your presence. 

 

In the hallway corridor is information about Loveless Estates. Click the framed poster to get an information card.

Tip the cat and then head into the underground library. Art deco vibes are striking in here. Green armchairs are in front of wall-to-ceiling bookcases, and a floor lamp casts a red glow on vintage hardcover books. An armchair with a throw blanket is in the corner. Beside it, bubbles rise in a transparent vase resting on a small, round table. A deco fireplace glows in front of a window. Another armchair in front of it. Art deco floor lamps flank the cavern doorway.

A short distance from the library, you’ll find the café. The floor allows you to see marine life below.  There are two hanging chairs on the right. Dining tables and chairs are positioned on the water-covered floor, and several shell-shaped hanging chairs are along the bank of windows. 

 

In another corner, filled with color scenes, fish swim through the rising particles. You’ll find a free gift in the café. Click on the animated picture.

Near the café, there's another seating area with a large saltwater aquarium. Beyond a window, ancient ruins and marine life can be seen swimming. Tucked away in a corner of the café is a cozy boat and a stunning view of the sea.

I saved it as one of my picks on my profile because I was so impressed with its creation. Wonderful job, Katie and the backdrop’s creator!
 

Loveless Unity (155, 25, 2306)
 

Netera Landar 

Three Underwater Places: Mad Mines, Pacifique, Nightgarden

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 There's plenty of places to explore in Second Life. But recently, I decided to check out "what lies beneath," in this case beneath the ocean surface. So I took a look at the Destination Guide for a few underwater areas. One got my curiosity, a game. So I stopped by Madpea's Mad Mines.

Welcome to Mad Mines: MadPea is searching for brave underwater adventurers to search for a long lost treasure! It’s a dangerous job as the dark and murky waters are filled with sharks and piranhas that will eat you alive. The area is also surrounded by sea mines that will explode if you end up too close to them. If you survive and find the treasure, you will be rewarded very generously.

So I plunked down fifty Lindens for a temporary HUD, which would vanish if I ran out of air or took too much damage, and took the plunge. I went into a cavern of twisty passages and rusty iron doors. I came across a few sea creatures such as octopuses, but they seemed harmless. But my air supply was going down in a hurry. While there were some air bubbles, I couldn't get to them in time.

And well, the deeper I got, the further the surface was. Not able to get to the bubbles, I kept having to double back. And eventually I couldn't get back in time.  While it stated I'd get a new and free HUD before the 30 minutes were up, this wasn't the case. Maybe I needed to be in the group or something. Still, it was a fun little game.

 

For those wanting to take the plunge, head to -

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MadPea%20Base/84/126/27

For those wanting a few hints, check -

https://madpeagames.com/how-to-play/mad-mines-how-to-play/

Moving on, I decided to check out another place with an underwater area: Pacifique.

 

 For some reason while reading the sign, I slid off the pier and into the water. Guess more people randomly exploring find out about the underwater area this way.

There was quite a bit to see around.

And some wildlife, such as octopi and seals. 

There were also some structures underwater as well. I would also find an underwater club area, great for merfolk and friends of.

There was plenty to see above the water as well. The place boasts some dancing areas, waterfalls, a hang glider to fly around in, and more.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pacifique/98/102/23

Earlier this month, I wrote on the Nightgarden area. But I didn't bother to check what was under the water's surface. Seeing it was listed in the Destination Guide as an underwater area, I went back and dove right in. I was pleasantly surprised. 

While perhaps not as large as Pacifique's underwater area, it was attractive and pretty.

A great addition to an already picturesque place in Second Life.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Club%20of%20Friends/146/108/22

That's all for now. To check out more underwater areas in Second Life, check out the Destination Guide.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Spark Project's Olympus And Bellissaria's Splash Adventure

 

 By Gemma Cleanslate

Raven Frostwych (RavenStarr) and her team,the Spark Project have again taken another view of the universe. Her futuristic Nova, will be closing soon but her newest Olympus installation reaches far back into time to the Greek deities. It is a demonstration of the historical view of what Olympus was visioned in antiquity and the stories still entice people to study and learn their origins.

On arrival one finds a teleport to make it easy to get to the major sites so easily, just click each location. But walk a bit to get a good look around to see all the beautiful statues around the steps of the arena. By hovering my cursor on the statues I was able to see the names of those they represented.

The gathering of statuary of so many deities are scattered over the whole build which is held up, emerging from the clouds by three massive titans. One can get a good look at the titans from the Ring of Orion. Following the stairs will bring you around to each teleport destination with enticing areas along the way.

Athena , Neptune, Demeter, Dionysus some of the major deities have their own place. Each will offer different aspect of those days of old in the myths of Greece. They all loved to have water baths in their homes it seems. There are so many levels of these gods and goddess and offspring that I have forgotten but was happy to go back and see some of them and do a little research to remember how many myths are connected to them all. Then there are the offspring of the gods and humans to complicate all the stories. Go see if Olympus will reinvigorate your knowledge of the interesting stories. 

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spark/136/117/135

I also visited a very different activity location going. The Bellisserian Hammies have done it again. I say so often.

For the 3rd year they built the marvelous water park called the Splash Adventure, The Oasis Water Park. It will be on the Bellisseria Fairgrounds until the end of August.

There are water slides from a great height. I tried one and made it! Look for a life saver TP near the exit from the slide to get to the top.

A number of fun games are placed around the site as well as food vendors. Or you can choose a cabana and just sit and read of chat with friends. Parties take place almost every day with DJs on the stage.

 It will be going on until the end of August. Make time for a visit.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bellisseria%20Fairgrounds/151/237/24

Gemma Cleanslate

 

More On The Sunweaver Estates Expansions And Other Changes

By Bixyl Shuftan

It's been a time of change and growth in the Sunweaver/Angel community's land. In August 1, Nydia Tungsten who owned Sunlight Bay and Cynthia Farshore who had Pacific Waters agreed to swap sims. Then several days later, there was a new sim on the map: Sunweaver Eclipse. A little more than a week later came another: SunWaterOne. These new sims meant open water to boat around in, and beach area to relax on.

But if there was a SunWaterOne, would that mean a SunWaterTwo? Finally, on September 29, it arrived, located south of Sunlight Bay and east of SunWaterOne. Rita Mariner, the Sunweaver's leader, invited me over for a look. It was a mountain rising out of the sea, with a small volcano nearby at the time.

Rita told me the sim would soon be changing, "Maybe hollow it out and put in a bunch of secret tunnels, and cool maze, with stuff for folks to explore and stuff to find, and with the height of the hill here, could have multiple levels. We have 5000 prims to play with, I am sure we can come up with some fun stuff." She also mentioned the possibility of trading the sim with Oriana Sun, who had rented SunWaterOne since I first wrote about it, "I can suggest the secret tunnel maze to her and maybe get Shocky to assist. She wants folks to visit the sim, and what better way."

Two days later on Sunday October 1, SunWaterThree would arrive, west of Sunweaver Eclipse and north of Sunny Beach. The main body of the Sunweaver/Angel sims was now ten sims large, Sunweaver Isle a little to the east and the Purrfection Estates sim far away. Rita told me these new sims will likely be the last new ones for a while.

I met briefly with Oriana at SunWaterOne, which was now hers and was different from when new and the temporary location of Nydia's "Margaritavile" hangout. She showed me around her place in the middle of the island which had been enlarged in size a little and shifted to mostly in the southeast corner with a thin part sticking out into the southwest.

There was a tunnel to a cave underneath, which she had yet to decide what to do with. The main build was some island huts built around a tall rock, linked by a wooden walkway lit by tiki torches. There were a few macaw parrots flying around. She showed me the games that were placed here and there for others to come by and enjoy.

In a visit later, I would find more things there that were either placed there later, or perhaps I was to focused on Oriana's tour to notice. In the middle was a tiny island with some lava bubbling in the middle, though still had sand and trees along the edges.

At the western tip, there was a gazebo people could sit in. Not far to the south was a stone head that reminded me of the ones at Easter Island, with some proportionally sized stone hands and feet nearby, placed as if there was a body in the sand.

At the other end of the island north of the island huts was a rusty derelict submarine beached on the shore.

The inside had been furnished to make it look like people were residing there, made into a hangout people could relax in. One time I dropped by, a couple visitors, at least one a friend of Oriana's from outside the Sunweavers, were there.

 Rita would show me SunWaterThree and it's builds before I saw the changes at the second one.

On it's first day, there was one sizable build. Rita had set up a complex of tiki huts the same kind as Oriana's, though there was no tall rock in the center.

These huts were all on stilts, with the wooden ramp going from the ground and around to successively higher ones until one reached the top. With one's viewer set to 1064 meters, which my Firestorm allowed, there was quite a view available of the surrounding land. Maybe it was me, but the macaw parrots flying around seemed more numerous than at SunWaterOne.

There was one addition to the place. There was a rope that one could climb up from the ground to one of the higher huts, or make their way back down.

Checking a couple days later, the mountain looked volcanic, with bubbling lava and smoke plumes, and a bit rockier.

Back at SunWaterOne, I saw this under the water. More Easter Island humor.

In a few days, SunWaterTwo had changed. The island was in the middle of a renovation that as of the writing of this article is still going on. The place was also Oriana's. I would later hear from her she was moving to here.

A few places looked complete, though may change as the building goes on.

Pretty and attractive (virtual) natural scenery.

Sunweaver Eclipse, which is under Shockwave Yareach, has a smaller island than the other new places. The main build is his skybox, which we won't publish any pictures without an okay.

The Lone Star flag of Texas,Shockwave's home state, flying overhead. Behind it is a tower in Sunweaver Space that I first thought was Jenni Greenfield's tower relocated, but it's a different design. Further back is Pacific Waters, now under Nydia Tungsten.

Pacific Waters is now the home of the office of White Vixen Enterprises, which has under it the Angel sims, including Purrfection which is some distance away from the Sunweaver sims, and the Happy Vixen Beach club. Further north is Nydia's manor and her theater set up in the water, described as the "float-in theater."

Nydia's guardian angel statue, standing guard.

The work on the new Sunlight Bay, under Cynthia Farshore, is close to done. Farshore Field is all laid down, with lights that shine at nightfall, and what look like tire marks on one of the runways.

The northeast corner of the sim, the port area with docks, has a store with Victorian-era clothes and other goods one can buy. There's also a 7Seas fishing spot. There were also a few trees with a swing and a couple cuddle spots.

Cynthia (picture from an event at Sunlight Bay's Goblin Cave), told me the 7Seas game would soon be joined by something called Neo, "Zorro (Wuramunga) says Neo is college compared to 7-seas." She went on to say, "Now that we have the new sims, I will have to see if I should run the rails through or the road. The railroad track is pretty much done to the sim border of Sunlight and Space."

Cynthia did say she's had to adjust her plans, "My plans got a bit changed with the new sims. That caught me by surprise." She may add some forest in places. Her train needed some repairs, but, "as soon I get that done I hope to have the train running, at least (the) short line till I get the other sims railed."

It's been an active time with sims being added and sims already here changing. And the changes aren't finished yet. Stand by for more developments.

Bixyl Shuftan