Ahab's Haunt

Ahab's Haunt is a Sim located inside Dire Strait, Nautilus. It is the location of the leviathan skeleton. It is an easy to recognize feature on the map of Eastern Nautilus and an important destination for sailors within the continent.

## Ethymology

The origin of the name is subject to debates. A giant animal called *leviathan* is described in the Bible and in Jewish language is associated with whale, while some scholars speculate that it is an aquatic dinosaur. Ahab was a pagan king of Israel. The name *Ahab* appears in *Mobydick*, a giant whale who a whale sailor, Ahab, tries to catch and in the end is killed by the whale. A leviathan should be a haunt for Ahab the sailor.

## Access

The island is large, filling almost the whole sim. Visitors teleporting here will often land on the Northern shore, where they can find a small dock and a rezz zone for boats. A windsock, a free boat giver and a Bellisseria passport stamp giver can be found nearby. The dock is where both Yava Script Pods and SLGI Fleet stop at the dock on their route.

The island is frequently visited by sailors who pass around it, sometimes circumnavigate it. Sailors often go to the Northern shore, close to the dock. It was seen that many other vehicles are being used too, including flying devices. Many sailors stop, explore the island and then rezz a new boat to continue their trip.

## The Island

The island is made of sand and has a large hole in the middle. It is oval shaped. Altitude is low, only 2 m above sea level. The lake in the middle is deep and requires scuba diving equipment for exploration. Along the island, there are palm trees and beach chairs. One note gives important information for visitors: *Please note. You will often see boat races passing through; please do not click on the boats as this can disrupt the races. Please watch and enjoy the races but don't interfere with the competitors or their boats.* There are inner tubes which can be used to swim in the inner lake. Children seem to have tried to build a castle of sand. You can sleep in the sand, lie down on a rug or on a hammock stretched between two palm trees.

Most of these things are on the Northern shore. The Southern shore has less items. There is a small and damaged dock with a rezz zone, with a campfire and a windsock nearby. Pigeons are seen to make nests on the Leviathan's bones here. There still are a few palm trees.

## The Skeleton

The leviathan's skeleton appears to be well preserved. The skull is large and one can easily fit in its mouth. Its teeth are intact, like waiting to bite again. Given the size, it could easily swallow a small sailboat. The presence of a nose rules out that it was a whale, as marine animals have nostrils on their back. Eyes appear to be very large, which means it was able to see better than any other creature. The brain was large enough to fit a human inside. Its backbone has 36 vertebrae visible. but the tail continues beneath the sand to appear again further away with other 9. The ribcage has 12 ribs.

Skeleton of the feet is not so well preserved. Its toes are partially buried beneath the sand. Also, some of the leg bones are missing.

It is possible to walk along the backbone, from head to where the tail vanishes beneath the sand. If you do so, you will rise to 68 m above sea level.

## The Lake

Beneath the body of the leviathan lies a lake full with debris. A few things, including a raft, a damaged boat, a buoy and other things.

More things wait beneath the lake surface. Aside of a few bones, water vegetation has spread. There are many debris too, but the most amazing things are the boats. There are remains of three wooden ships as well as a metal ship. But the most amazing is that there is the rusted wreck of a submarine. It is unknown how they ended-up here. Did the leviathan eat them? They seem too big to fit through its mouth unless its jaws could dislocate like the bones of a snake to make room for large objects to get inside its stomach. Otherwise, it means that the leviathan carried them there to make its nest. The last object is a tractor wheel. Large tires are sometimes used to protect mooring ships from hitting docks.

There is a narrow water communication between the lake and the sea under leviathan's head.

## See Also

* Second Life Geography
* Parks And Recreation Areas
* Dire Strait
* Nautilus