I’ve been playing around with my latest virtual toy — a jetski. It’s a lovely little baby; two seater, customizable colors — I set it to Harper blue, of course — five speeds, makes the spray fly when you cross region boundaries. (Your course also gets a little ragged at that point, until you stabilize in the new sim server, which leads to some occasionally interesting effects…:) Since I reside in a semi-coastal region, but without a marina, I figured this would be a good way to do some exploring in my “neighborhood” without having to worry about where to tie up the yacht.

It took a while to get the hang of the controls, and it’s still not plain sailing yet. But I did manage to work my way through a forest of coastal houses and developments, out to sea, and along the coast. Until a flash of vibrant color caught my attention, and I heaved to and turned to look at a forest you would not believe unless you’ve set foot there.

These photos are not retouched in any way, I assure you. The trees, lower plants, and even the rocks, are the creations of soror Nishi, the avatar in the first photograph of this gallery, and are located across two regions. What you’re seeing here is actually not at its best, as I think the Grid was having a grass frop yesteday morning. That would account for the flat grey ground in some of the images above. But the others are completely amazing — enough to blow your mind quite thoroughly. For a second, I thought someone had slipped me some acid, and I was on another kind of trip….

There is a teleporter near these coordinates, which will take you to a skybox filled with more sights. Make sure you hunt along the walls, or fly up farther with a jetpack so you can see where to come down, as one part of this skybox — the best, in my opinion — is off in a sort of alcove reached by a narrow little passage.