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It's water week here at ITG! And in that spirit, I thought today I'd strap on the ol' scuba gear, and do a little diving around Second Life to see what I could see. That's one of the coolest things about the grid, after all, at least in my opinion, is that it requires no more effort to create things underwater than it does above sea level, nor more money. And with Linden Lab, the terraforming puppetmasters of SL, adding more and more coastline and water-based sims each day, an entire cottage industry is now starting to appear just for specialized underwater builds.

Of course, just like everything else in SL, there are now too many underwater landscapes in existence for anyone to do a comprehensive survey of them; so instead I simply spent some time in the search feature, and am presenting merely a random collection of sights seen by me over a random day or two. One of the first ones I came across, for example, is what you see above -- a submerged and partially destroyed temple for the Egyptian god Anubis [Miniard 156/18/31]. As far as I can tell, in fact, this build exists for no other reason than sightseeing ones -- just because the owners thought it'd be enjoyable to try building something like this in the first place. There's a plethora of such places throughout the grid, in fact, which is what makes random scuba diving there such a pleasurable thing.

And then here's something else interesting I came across while diving; an underwater labyrinth [SupportForHealing 209/231/8], sponsored by a group called Support For Healing. And even more interesting, it's not your usual "giant maze" style labyrinth, but rather a ritualized walk that many in the new-age movement believe aids the recovery process when done regularly during a healing phase. It's a great idea, I think, combining this centuries-old pattern for serenity with the natural calm of the deep blue sea.

And then look what I accidentally stumbled across, next to the labyrinth; a full underwater lounge as well, sponsored by the same group. Cool!

Of course, not all underwater builds are done for altruistic reasons; check out the landscaping at Dragon Falls Boardwalk [Mournful 210/92/22], for example, done primarily to convince people to rent out one of the luxury cabins dotting the parcel. This, by the way, taps into something I find very interesting about the grid, and that I know almost nothing about; of the huge amounts of people who actually will rent a house in an exotic area for a week or two, almost as a "vacation" within Second Life. I don't quite understand why people do such a thing, given that you can instantly teleport to such locations at any time; it's undeniable, though, that it's a big business within the grid.

And then finally we come to what has to be the lushest underwater landscape I've come across yet; a place called Cave Rua [Rua 172/25/6]. Yeah, pretty amazing, right? I thought so, anyway; a perfect place to spend a good 30 minutes or so simply gawking at all the cool crap, as well as a perfect place to show why diving in the grid is so much fun in the first place. Unsurprisingly, the build is maintained by the designer of most of what you see, who also maintains a store above water where you can buy it all yourself. It's a pretty effective sales pitch, I have to tell you.

Anyway, make sure to tune in all week for the rest of our water series, including upcoming reports concerning SL's most popular sailing regatta, the interesting things residents do with small lakes, and more about the various types of boats for sale. If you know of an interesting place I should check out or an interesting person to talk to, please by all means drop me a line at inthegrid [at] gmail.com and let me know.