The Mare Secundus

The Mare Secundus is a vast, inland sea which can be found in northern Sansara, spanning at least ten sims. It contains a number of interesting islands worth exploring, where adventurers can wonder at an ancient lighthouse, visit several observatories (one with a telescope and moveable observation window in the roof), climb over the ruins of buildings and primordial tree stumps, or even commune with a flock of flamingos under what appears to be one of the last remaining giant trees. Let's start our explorations in the observatory at Okinu, the gold-domed building pictured below. Go inside, where comfortable cushions have been provided for you to relax and watch a model of the solar system moving across the inside of the dome. Then, venture outside and over towards the large rocket ship, also pictured below.

You will need to touch the lever outside in order to extend the walkway to the ship's door. Once inside, take a seat, and hang on! In a few, brief moments, you'll land on a strange moon, pictured below. Look around for evidence that the LDPW moles were here before you; they left a marker for future explorers to find. The moon is dotted with otherworldly flora and fauna, but watch out for the latter, because some of the creatures appear to be hungry!

One might also spot a mysterious monument with an eye in the center, partially visible under the arched rock pictured above. A similar monument can be found on an island in Elderbridge, back on the surface. The Elderbridge island also contains a small beach, a picnic area, and a zone in which you can rez vehicles or boats for further exploration. In fact, there are at least nine rez zones in the Mare Secundus: three on piers (Elderbridge, Thurston, and Zolezzi), and six  underwater (Margery, Mandrake, Leipzig, Hepurn, Zaharik, and Henshaw). The one in Zaharik is actually inside and underwater cavern!

In fact, the entire Mare Secundus is a diver's paradise. Most of the sea floor is dotted with sunken ships, mysterious ruins, and more of those primordial tree trunks, indicating perhaps that some long-ago disaster (or global warming??) sunk an ancient civilization below the waves. The glowing rock in what looks like a sea floor crash site (pictured above) gives some credence to the disaster scenario.

In addition to ruins, glowing rocks and giant clam beds, intrepid underwater explorers will also encounter three hippo statues, two of which are in Thurston and are pictured above. As I mentioned in this blog post about Hairy Hippo Fun land in Bay City, hippos are the unofficial mascot of Second Life, and can be found in many locations all over the Grid. There is even a hippo easter egg in SL browsers (press CTRL, ALT, SHIFT then hit the H key). From the sea floor to the mysterious moon high overhead, and everywhere in between, the Mare Secundus is a wonderful place for a visit...or five! So take some time, bring along a spare wetsuit, and see what you can discover there. Careful observers might even uncover the meaning behind the name of the sea itself. Happy exploring!