The blossoming of Sakura Islands in Second Life

Sakura Islands, November 2025 – click any image for full size
Sakura Islands is a richly detailed Japanese-inspired space with three immersive zones: a funky rooftop cityscape, a dreamy night skybox nestled among cherry trees beneath starry skies, and lush, pastoral islands blanketed with cherry blossoms. Enjoy contemplation and quiet reflection or a peaceful balloon ride. You may even spot a forest troll!

– Sakura Islands Destination Guide and About Land description

I’m always drawn to evocative Oriental-themed settings in Second Life – as I’ve oft mentioned, I spent a fair amount of time in the Far East at one point in my life (and still like to return when the opportunity presents itself), and it left a lasting impression on me. So when I came across the Destination Guide entry for Sakura Islands, I had to hop over and take a look.

Sakura Islands, November 2025

Occupying just over one-sixth of a Full private region leveraging the Land Capacity bonus available to such regions, Sakura Islands is the work of Nic Belmonte-Voxel (Nic Voxel). As its description notes, it is vertically split into three parts, with the rooftop setting serving as the main Landing Point (although this is not enforced).

The latter is a small setting that is not without its quirks, such as the chairs held aloft by little balloons and available for the intrepid looking for somewhere to it. It’s also a place clearly under the control of our feline overlords (you know what they say: dogs have owners, cats have – staff).

Sakura Islands, November 2025

Visitors arrive on the “central” rooftop, a place where a figure of Totoro, the first of several references to the acclaimed 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film, My Neighbour Totoro, stands under an umbrella, presumably waiting to greet new arrivals. Another reference to the film is also hidden in plain sight, but I’ll leave you to find it (clue: mouseover things, and assuming no-one else has left it running!).

A little penthouse-like room sits to one side of the roof, offering places to sit (and a third reference to the film 🙂 ) while soot sprites bounce around in a corner. Outside, bridges span the alleyways between buildings, presenting access to three more rooftops. One of these looks like a flying saucer out of the 1950s or 1960s, a steel-and-concrete frame with stairs climbing up to it giving the impression it is hovering above the roof over which it sits.

Sakura Islands, November 2025

Facing the flying saucer / UFO on the opposite side of the Landing Point rooftop is a shipping container reached by a makeshift bridge and which has been converted into a little cabin, presumably for a painter. The remaining accessible roof has a lean towards the industrial. Watched over by a Japanese ghost floating over it, it also has a shower tub sitting on it – possibly for use by the cabin owner? The other visible rooftops are not directly accessible, but are home to blossoming sakura.

Moving between the three main locations is via teleport boards and the use of a local Experience (with the ground level offering two destinations – one on the higher reaches of the setting (which I would recommend as a good arrival point during a first-time visit), and one at the foot of high waterfalls.

Sakura Islands, November 2025

Meanwhile, the second skybox in the region is located at a higher altitude, and presented within a sky sphere giving it the Oblivion-like impression of being set high in the sky, looking down on surrounding peaks, with rocky lands rich in more sakura below it. It’s a quiet place offering places to sit, the skybox itself one of Cory Edo’s designs.

However, it is the ground level which really caught my attention. Rugged, it is lined on two sides by high curtain walls of rock separating it nicely from the rest of the region, leaving the remain two sides looking out over water to off-region islands, the tall tower of a lighthouse rising from a nub of rock to stand as a sentinel between the setting and the islands to the south.

Sakura Islands, November 2025

If you follow my suggestion vis. ground level teleporting, you’ll find yourself standing on a flat-topped table of rock forming an attract wildling garden crossed by two main footpaths. One of these, running east-to-west connects the garden with bridges providing access to two of the other highland areas, whilst the north-south path provides access to the shoreline on the southern side of the setting and to the shingles of the gorge separating the larger islands from the more northern parts of the setting.

Within this garden, and reached by a separate path, is a dry landscape / rock /Zen garden (pick your preferred name!), and also a hot spring with seating for those wanting to relax in the water. Meanwhile, the main garden continues westward on the far side of the bridge, where the second of the table-topped islands resides.

Sakura Islands, November 2025

Roughly the same size as the first island, this is home to the summer / tea house and again offers indoor and outdoor seating, together with more sakura sprinkling blossoms over paths, grass and flowers. A bridge has been slung across the cleft between this island and the smallest of the three (which can also be reached via a further bridge reaching out to it from the landing point rock), where sits a small shrine.

Eastwards from the landing point rock, the land juts out from the surrounding cliffs to form a promontory alongside the high waterfall feeding the main gorge. This again forms a garden space with room to sit down under the watchful eyes of a goat. Stone steps curve down from here to arrive at the foot of the falls, presenting a further means to reach the main gorge and explore its length, with a little bridge and stepping stones helping you to keep your feet dry as you head for the waterside tea house or the steps leading up to the north side of the setting.

Sakura Islands, November 2025

Throughout all of this there is much to discover – such as the hot air balloon rezzer (which is not the only means to taking to the air by balloon and drafting around the setting; again, mouseover things! 🙂 – plus, a third balloon is also present, but it is static in nature); the raft and rowing boat out on the waters offering their own little retreats; the prone Totoro tucked away and perhaps not too obvious to at first spot, but nevertheless offering another place to sit.

There are a couple of oddities that perhaps need correcting – a floating tree, water tumbling out of mid-air (unless a part of the landscape was simply refusing to load in my viewer!) – but these in no way detract from the setting’s beauty and sense of calm. In all, Sakura Islands is perfectly conceived and executed, and – needless to say – very photogenic.

Sakura Islands, November 2025

SLurl Details

Sakrisoya: a touch of Norwegian beauty in Second Life

Sakrisoya, November 2025 – click any image for full size

Sakrisoya is the name given to the latest region setting from the combination of Dandelion Rabbit (formerly Tolla Crisp) and Dandy Warhlol Terry Fothrington), and presented under Tolla’s Frogmore estate brand.

I’ll note up front that it is a setting with access restricted to members of the Frogmore Land Management Group, which requires a payment of L$500 – but this does include rezzing rights and unfettered access to all of the estate’s public locations, many of which I’ve covered in these pages. In this case, my own attraction to the setting is that it is inspired by Lofoten, a dramatic archipelago extending into the Norwegian Sea from Norway, lying within the Arctic Circle.

Sakrisoya, November 2025

Lofoten is not a place I’ve visited, but I have seen photographs of several of the islands and as a result have often wondered about visiting. They are marked bay dramatic mountains as well as stunning bays and sheltered beaches and largely untouched beauty, despite attracting up to a million visitors a year. The link between the region and Lofoten is stated in the region’s About Land description:

Lofoten:
Picasso’s brush strokes reflect
 onto the fjord’s arctic mirrored surface
ethereal landscape expanding
where mountains meet the sea
Sakrisoya, November 2025

It’s a perfect description of both locations, with Sakrisoya beautifully encapsulating much of Lofoten’s renown: towering mountains and peaks, a rugged landscape carpeted by hardy grass and the presence / passage of water have had a particular role to play in shaping the land.

This is a place showing limited signed of human habitation – a wooden chapel, an dry stone barn and a couple of cosy cabins (one of which is furnished) sitting above a stretch of coast. These in particular added a touch of familiarity for me personally, having visited similar turf-roofed homes in Iceland.

Sakrisoya, November 2025

The setting is surrounded by water, allowing it to have a rocky coast complete with shallows and deep waters coming directly up to the shoreline, much as might be found in a landscape formed by fault-derived ridges and graben. The Landing Point sits towards the centre of the region, close to the junction of two highways rushing through the region to split it into three parts.

The Landing Point faces north over the longer of the two streams and towards rocky uplands marked by two square peaks and from which wall falls to fill a large body of water split by a smaller fall, before dropping down to the surrounding water. A broad shoulder of grassland lies between the stream and the peaks, on which the local chapel can be found. This shoulder of land extends out into a lower-lying finger of land extended out to the west and offering a couple of places to sit and look back at the rest of the island.

Sakrisoya, November 2025

The portion of the island on which the Landing Point sits forms the lowlands of one half of a high horseshoe of rock with its back to the southern waters. Falls drop on the inland side of this horseshoe to where it has formed a deep, open-ended bowl  largely walled by basalt columns, suggesting something of a volcanic past to the island. It is on this portion of the island that the cabins mentioned above sit, dry stone walls marking their property, with outdoor seating for people to enjoy. Close to these is one of the two bridges connecting the north sides of the setting to the southern.

The remaining portion of the setting, lying to the south-west, offers a further semi-rugged area, backed to the south by the remaining half of the rocky horseshoe, the lower portion of the land given over to rough grazing for a local herd of horses, the dry stone barn offering them some shelter for them against harsher weather.

Sakrisoya, November 2025

There are two ways to reach this side of the island: take a plunge into the waters of the stream separating the north side of the island from the rest and then crossing back over the stream via the bridge sitting below the chapel,  or by walking up to the bridge mentioned above and then along the northern island and down to the second bridge. Doing so is worthwhile for explorers, as there is a walk to be taken out to the setting’s lighthouse, and another that is neatly tucked away among the rocks that leads up to the flattened heights of the southern horseshoe.

The one small regret I have with the setting – and it is purely personal – is that it doesn’t directly abutting the off-region mountain surround. Had it done so, I feel that it would give the location greater depth, allowing it to feel a part of something much larger in terms of a mountainous, rugged island in the manner of those forming Lofoten. Doing so might not be easy, hence why I call this a very minor quibble.

Sakrisoya, November 2025

That thought put to one side, Sakrisoya is an engaging and highly photogenic region that sits well on the eye and easy on the viewer. Yes, there is a fee to access it, but as noted, that does allow rezzing and unfettered access to all of the public settings within the Frogmore estate.

SLurl Detail

Avalonian Gallery, November 2025 in Second Life

Avalonian Gallery, November 2025

As I continue to try to catch up on what’s going on in Second Life, I took the opportunity to hop over to the Avalonian Gallery, operated and curated by Moon (Moon Dragonheart), a 20-year veteran of Second Life (and fellow “Brit”) and his SL partner Luanamae Heartsong. This is one (which might actually be relatively new to the SL art world) of the many smaller, boutique-style galleries which can often pass unnoticed in the scheme of things, especially by those of us who blog art, so a slap across my writs in this regard, but which nevertheless quietly hosts engaging exhibitions.

Located on its own sky platform above the Mainland continent of Heterocera, the gallery is housed within one of Cain Maven’s instantly recognisable and elegant buildings. A large terrace bordered by hedgerows sits before the gallery, offering both the Landing Point and (presumably) space for event openings.

Avalonian Gallery, November 2025: Dante Helios

At the time of my visit, the gallery was hosting an untitled exhibition of art by Dante Helios (Dantelios). Also hailing from the UK, Dante splits his SL work between landscape images and erotica, noting:

Both of these themes fascinate me and continue to bring me pleasure in SL. I enjoy exploring beautiful sims and trying to capture the feeling of being there. I also enjoy seeing how women are far freer to express their sexuality in SL through their avis than they are in RL.

For this exhibition, the focus is on Dante’s landscape work, which I find to be rich, evocative and finely balanced in the use of post- (and possibly pre-?) processing to create pieces that can open the door to the imagination, allowing it to paint stories of its own – or which can simply be appreciated for their beauty.

Avalonian Gallery, November 2025: Dante Helios

The gallery building is split into two rooms, large and smaller, and Dante’s exhibition might be seen as being loosely split between the two.

Within the larger L-shaped room, entered directly from the terrace, is a display of images largely (entirely? I admit, there were two I didn’t recognise) within a region I’ve always found to be richly engaging on many levels: Buddha Garden, the work of Gian (GianArt Clip). It’s a place I’ve visited numerous times since 2022 (the most recent having been in August 2025), and the images Dante presents here offer and entirely new outlook on the setting, presenting it with a sense of mystical beauty that is quite marvellous.

Avalonian Gallery, November 2025: Dante Helios

The smaller room presents a collection of eleven pieces captured from around Second Life. They again include personal favourites – the now departed (and missed) Elvion, the ever-captivating Chou-Chou (the cathedral of Memento Mori perfectly captured and instantly recognisable as I place I’ve spent a lot of time within and have filmed in the past).

Also to be found (although I admit I had to peek at the name of the pictures for these) are Luane’s World, Angel of Pain, and Storybook, all of which have been locations featured in these pages, and the spirit of all of them is perfectly captured in Dante’s images.

Avalonian Gallery, November 2025: Dante Helios

I’m not sure how frequently exhibitions are staged / changed at Avalonian Gallery or how long this exhibition has been running. The latter being the case, I would recommend hopping over and viewing sooner rather than later. In terms of the former, I fully intend to keep an eye on the gallery’s group notices and outlets such as the various SL Arts groups for future exhibitions.

SLurl Details

The inviting joy of Sei Fiore in Second Life

Sei Fiore, November 2025 – click any image for full size

I came across the region design of Sei Foire (“flowers for you”), within the Destination Guide. Its description immediately caught my attention, offering as it does a clear invitation to visit.

Sei Fiore is a whimsical daydream brought to life, where rolling meadows of daisies sway like tiny suns in the breeze and every path feels touched by a bit of magic. Here, the world softens, ponds shimmer with quiet secrets, petals twirl like confetti, and joy tiptoes back into your heart as naturally as breathing.

– Sei Fiore Destination Guide description

Sei Fiore, November 2025

On my arrival, I was delighted to discover this Full private region design is the work of Raven Fairelander (RavenStarr Fairelander). She was the creator of Posey Wildes, a setting I visited back in August 2024, finding it to be a beautiful and evocative setting rich in poetry and short stories by classical writers such as Eliot, Dickinson, Poe, Wordsworth, Yeats, Wilde and more. I was captivated by that visit, and remembering it caused no small amount of anticipation as I started to explore Sei Foire.

That said, I should state from the outset that while there are some passing similarities between Posey Wildes and Sei Fiore, particularly in terms of the touches of whimsy, the two are very different – and richly engaging – settings, with Sei Fiore being unique to itself.

Sei Fiore, November 2025

It is a setting perhaps most perfectly described through Raven’s words in the setting’s Destination Guide and About Land descriptions, the latter of which states:

A meadow-born dream where joy grows wild. Rolling fields of daisies stretch beneath a golden sky, their petals whispering laughter to the wind.  In Sei Fiore, joy isn’t chased, it’s found, blooming right where you stand.

– Sei Fiore About Land description

Sei Fiore, November 2025

I found this description particularly apt because as soon as I stepped out of the Landing Point gazebo, the joy carried by the region immediately surrounded me. This is very much a setting where trying to view it logically is to face defeat; this is a place to simply be accepted and relished as it is explored.

In this, the various locations awaiting discovery – the pond with its giant frogs and sea serpent, the dinosaurs gossiping on the shoreline, the pink elephants, the crystal walk burrowing through the neck of a hill, the giant plants, and so much more – are all very different one to another, yet the all flow together into a unified whole.

Sei Fiore, November 2025

Within the setting it is possible to wander, to sit, to meet the locals in all their forms (from the aforementioned dinosaurs et al to dapper-dressed mice, little fairies, mythical beats and more), or find your way to a beached pirate’s ship or to platform-hung tree, and visit gardens where dragons sleep and meadows where a horse awaits you as its rider…

With giraffes watching over terraces held aloft by balloons to a certain tea party sitting atop waterfalls that give rise to the setting’s modest brook, Sei Fiore is a tumbling mix of themes and ideas, all woven together with a sense of laughter and happiness within a landscape rich in detail and photogenically attractive.

Sei Fiore, November 2025

This is a place to watch out for the smaller details as well as the large; where table-top games rub shoulders with the option to sit back in meditation or contemplation; where the gentle rocking of a boat on the water might send you to sleep or interactive elements might take you by surprise (do mouse-over things!).

And when you feel you’ve roamed enough, you can make your way up to the island’s hilly middle, past the Curious ‘Shrooms and under the living arch of a tree to reach the Green Witch Café, and available yourself of the company of Althea The Green Witch within the cosy walls of her establishment.

Sei Fiore, November 2025

Beautifully crafted and a joy to explore, Sei Fiore is well worth taking the time to visit.

SLurl Details

Sea Fiore (Frozen Star, rated Moderate)

Artsville further relocates and continues to engage in Second Life

Artsville, November 2025

Artsville, the art and entertainment hub under the joint management of Frank Atisso and Vitoria Galli, has once more relocated for what I believe is the second time in 2025 (the first being at the start of the year, which I covered here).

Now occupying roughly one quarter of a Full private region which leverages the Land Capacity bonus, the overall design remains the work of Megan Prumier, working in collaboration with Frank and Victoria. It offers what might be said to be a setting of two halves: art and entertainment, which between them contain faint hints of the former Artsville design – most notably with the Landing Point, the symmetry of which calls to mind the prior location, together with the overall rugged elevation of the setting.

Artsville, November 2025

The two “halves”, as it were, of the setting lie to either side of a sheer-sided gorge, the waters of which flow from tall falls from its southern extent to the open waters at its northern end. It is mid-way along this gorge that the Landing Point sits, straddling the waters in the form of a pergola-covered paved walkway bordered by open seating areas.

The lands at either end of this bridge are of unequal size, with the western side of the the setting offering the smaller footprint. With the façades of city building running along its western edge, this part of Artsville might be regarded as the entertainment district and – at first glance at least – apparently comprises three main elements.

Artsville, November 2025

Directly facing the Landing Point is a large warehouse structure, given over to a music / event space, presumably for hosting music events and art exhibition open entertainment. Flanking this to the left and right when facing it are, respectively, a train station and a garden area offering seating and an old London buss now painted yellow and converted into bar space.

It is within the garden space that the “hidden secret” fourth part of this side of the setting is to be found: sitting below the sign and entrance for a London Underground station can be found a stairway leading down to a further event space laid out in the manner of a private club rich in wood finishes, low lighting and deep, comfortable armchairs, with the walls, wooden floor and low ceiling studded with lights twinkling gently light a star scape.

Artsville, November 2025

On the eastern side of the setting is the art-focused elements of Artsville, centred on another large warehouse style of building split into two indoor gallery spaces. At the time of my visit, these were hosting exhibition by two excellent Second Life photographer-artists: Cecilia Nansen and Christian Carter.

To the north side of this is a sculpture garden featuring the work of Mistero Hifeng which shares the space with a small café with an over-the-water seating area located over a small pond. Further water features to the eastern end of the sculpture garden, complete with seating. Bracketing the gallery warehouse is a further raised plateau, home to a music bar / lounge.

Artsville, November 2025: Cecilia Nansen – Light Enough to Land

The two exhibitions hosted with in the gallery space are entitled Light Enough to Land, by Cecilia, and Hands that Speak by Christian. Both are captivatingly exquisite, with Cecilia’s black-and-white images featuring a butterfly, and which Cecilia describes in part thus:

In this series of ten photographs, the little black and white butterfly becomes both a mirror and a symbol – a fragile creature suspended between strength and dissolution. Each image captures a fleeting moment where light and shadow, movement and stillness, existence and disappearance co-exist. … This little exhibition invites the viewer to linger in the in-between – where the ephemeral becomes eternal and where vulnerability reveals its quiet yet beautiful strength. 
Artsville, November 2025: Christian Carter – Hands that Speak

Meanwhile, Christian’s work, also comprising ten images – these offered in colour – also have a specific focus that of the human (in the form of the avatar’s) hand, and for which Christian offers (again, in part), the following description:

I became fascinated by the stories that we can see in people’s hands; stories of resilience, care, and connection etched into their lines, the gestures that convey comfort, strength, and vulnerability without a single word. … I hope that as you gaze at these images, you’ll be reminded of the quiet power of the human connection, the unspoken stories carried in our hands, and the profound empathy we can find in the simplest touch.
Artsville, November 2025

The new Artsville is both unique in its setting whilst carrying on its long tradition of promoting art in SL, and I highly recommend a visit – particularly to catch Cecilia and Christian’s exhibitions. My thanks to Frank for the invitation to visit, and my apologies for not being able to do so sooner.

SLurl Details

  • Artsville (Isle of Thunder, rated Moderate)

Visiting a Wild Silence in Second Life

Wild Silence, November 2025 – click any image for full size

I’m not quite ready to start exploring all the wintertime settings that are currently arriving across Second Life to match the  northern hemisphere as it welcomes its end-of-year weather. I’m sure this outlook will change over the next couple of weeks, but right now, I remain in the mood for warmer spots in which to roam, take photographs and generally blather about. There’s also the fact that given my current health situation, I’m naturally drawn to places physical and digital which offer calm and opportunities for peace and reflection.

Fortunately for me, Sorcha Tyles provides just such a place; one which has recently opened to visitors under her Dutch Pavilion land group. I’ve known Sorcha for a long time, both as a region designer as and a photographer-artist and gallery owner, and had always appreciated her work. As a result, I was quick to hop over to Wild Silence after coming across it in the Destination Guide.

Wild Silence, November 2025

Like the most recent iteration of Dutch Pavilion, which I visited in June 2025 (and after it had been relocated and downsized from the Homestead region I first visited in September 2024), Wild Silence occupies a parcel within a region – in this case a quarter(ish) of a Homestead to present a beautiful wild yet also delicate natural setting.

Really, the best way to describe this setting is to use the description found in its Destination Guide entry, a shorter version of which can also be found in the setting’s About Land description:

The Wild Silence is an untamed expanse where the pale water and whispering reeds hide a vibrant world. This sanctuary is home to countless birds and offers refuge from the noise of man. Explore the winding shores and witness a fragile beauty found only in the profound, untouched stillness.  

– Wild Silence Destination Guide description

Wild Silence, November 2025

Surrounded on three sides by curtain walls of rock which will serve to nicely separate the setting from the rest of the region as it is developed (at the time of my visit, the rest of the region – Moonlight Lullaby – was undeveloped open water), Wild Silence looks southward out over open Linden Water, the majority of the setting given over to a low-lying island of shingle, rocks, scrub grasses and gravel, dotted here and there with hardy trees and upon which an enterprising soul has established a little café inside a greenhouse  (coffee houses and tea houses are a creative signature of Sorcha’s builds and always a welcome sight).

Whilst “silence” appears in the location’s name, this is more a reflection of the lack of human occupancy (despite the presence of the café and a fishing boat), as reflected in the setting’s description; the island itself is alive with swishing ebb and flow of a gentle tide along the shoreline and the song and cry of birds and waterfowl and the occasional moo of the two cows as they help keep the grasses somewhat trimmed to size.

Wild Silence, November 2025

The majority of the birds and waterfowl within the setting are located at the far end of a tongue of water curling in to the island from the southern sea, forming a tear-drop of water with surprising depth.  Here can be found ducks, geese, gulls, heron, godwits, ibis and more, all adding their voices to the local chorus.

A second ribbon of water attempts to make its way around the land, hugging the curtains of cliffs and in one place broad enough to provide shelter to the aforementioned fishing boat. Both of these inland bodies of water are also home to a couple of rowing boats offering both singles and couples seating.

Wild Silence, November 2025

Nor are the rowing boats the only outdoor places to sit, as those following the island’s gravel path from the Landing Point around to where the greenhouse café at the south-east extent on the island. The café itself is an utter charm, warm and welcoming, presenting both indoor and outdoor seating for those wishing to spend time there.

In talking to Sorcha during my visit, I learned that she will be closing Dutch Pavilion in the near future so she can focus on Wild Silence. Given this, if you have visited the former, I’d strongly suggest you do so before at least the end of the month as it really is worth the time, and to perhaps do so in concert with a visit to Wild Silence, as they complement one another perfectly.

Wild Silence, November 2025

SLurl Details