Irish - Bonaire
Irish - Bonaire was a continent that existed on the grid until August 4th 2014, after an existence full of changes. It became a Sim Cluster and earned the name Bonaire Sim cluster and designation number A231.
This continent is the result made of two estates (possible 3). It was an unofficial continent and its formation is the result of a random add of new sims. It is almost compleatly made of estate islands and navigable waters.
History
In August 2013, the continent was made of 56 sims, with a total surface of 3067 square km. All sims were with direct water access, no sim completely submerged and no sim was complete dryland. Two, possible 3 estates existed at that time.
From August 1st to August 30th, a sim vanished from the map in the 'Irish' part. Then, entire Irish part of this continent vanished from the map, most probably at the end of September 2013. This leaded to major changes in the form of the continent and also in the number of sims. If the number of sims drops below 30, Irish - Bonaire risked to become a Microcontinent. However, things were starting to change in late Octomber. New sims were created around the 'Bonaire' part of the continent, as you can see on the top-left map.
The Artisan islands moved away from the continent around October - November 2013 and formed a separate structure.
In November 2013 the Irish islands moved close to Nautilus, where they are now known as the Seychelles Microcontinent, a part of the Nautilus continent. They form the Seychelles Subcontinent, that continued to grow, until in September 2014 they were composed of twice more sims that they were in Irish - Bonaire.
Things were changing again in 2014. This made Irish-Bonaire the most dynamic of all continents. In January 26th 2014, Second Life Geography Team found that a new long and white Subcontinent was formed in South-East. The vast majority of these sims shared the common name Isles. Previous map of Grid Sector G10 showed that the area hosted no sim in autumn 2013. This increased its number of sims up to 56, exactly its initial size in August 2013.
Unfortunately, in August 4th 2014, one year after first mapping, things changed again, but in worse. A lot of sims vanished from the grid and the continent split into smaller pieces. It became a Sim Cluster, with two inner Microcontinents. As a whole, there are still many sims, that could form back the continent if they will move to link one each other.
Geography
Altitude
The Altitude map shows different elevation values then those found on other island continents, like Blake Sea, Eden or Caledon - Winterfel. The main difference is hte presence of high places (over 40 meters). They are mountains. Majority of mountains found on this continent are in fact separation lines between parcels. Other smaller mountains can be found too. They are high (sometimes over 100 meters) but never wide enough to cover a large part of a sim.
Divisions
The continent was composed of two different regions.
The Northern Region had a much darker texture and less surface covered with water. Ground was usually covered with temperate forests. Also, there was the highest mountain, about 170 meters, a sharp mountain range that divided a sim in two. Water was very deep. Also, the most Northern sims covered a large park along a river, with an alley and a lot of vegetation. Land could be purchased anywhere, including in the park.
The Southern Region looked more like a tropical beach, with a lot of islands and water for sailing. Almost all ground texture looked like sand. This was a beach paradise, with palm trees, where you could easy find a place to rezz boats.
Isles Region was in South-East and at some point gave to the continent a shape similar to a crescent moon. It was formed by 11 sims placed almost in a straight line. On map, they were whiter then other structures. They were made of smaller or larger islands and the vast majority of them were for sale.
Transportstion
There were a few small roads in North, along water. However, sailing was the most common way of transport. This included completely submerged sims and a huge network of waterways. All sims had water access, so that every resident could rezz a boat and explore its vicinity.
Air transportation was also possible.
Our survey detected two entity orbs, so Land With Restricted Access existed. This was not a major problem, since Protected Land exists and covered almost all the continental Water. Additional protected land included mountains, used to separate parcels.
Estate status
Before August 2013, data is unknown, but at first survey, two different estates were detected (as they used their names on some sims, Irish and Bonaire). A third estate (naming its sims Artisan) was identified a few weeks later, but it could have existed before. Then, Irish moved to Nautilus, where it created Seychelles Microcontinent. Soon after that, Artisan sims moved and the continent was formed by Bonaire only, until it got split into a sim cluster.
Statistic data
Current size in sims: 70 (as a sim cluster)
Size in meters: 2.88 square km (2.82/2.56 km)
In past, as a continent, it had 56 sims, then reduced size and increased again to 44.
Coordinates
Coordinates are in sims, with longitude(min-max)/latitude(min-max) format. The sim coordinates can be downloaded from Gridsurvey [1] or an inworld detector.
Sim cluster: 717-742/1022-1041
Old coordinates were:
Continent: 726-736/1023-1037 Irish sims: 735-736/1023-1035 Artisan sims: 731-734/1032-1035 Bonaire sims: 730-732/1033-1037 South-West sims: 726-732/1027-1036
Grid Sector: G10