Our first day on land has finally arrived.  After two very successful class days at sea we arrived at 8:00 am in the port of Phillipsburg, St. Maarten.  While some of us simply planned to explore the shops and perhaps get a drink or meal on the island many of us spent the day on excursions – in the case of Aaron Betrand from SQL Sentry one of his own choosing.  Aaron decided that after a day leading us through enhancements and changes coming in SQL Server 2012 that he would avoid relaxation in exchange for biking 25 miles around the island that is shared by both the Netherlands and France.  While the French are determined to maintain their roads – Aaron wasn’t so lucky on the Dutch side and is nursing some serious chaffing, aches, and pains along with a nice little sunburn.

Though there were five cruise ships in port we did manage to occasionally run into one another.  While my family was run Segways up and down the boardwalk and beaches (I WANT ONE!) we ran into Kevin Kline (PASS President Emeritus) enjoying a quiet island brunch in one of the many beachside restaurants.  Aaron ran across Ivan and Irina Camayo who joined us on SQL Cruise at the last minute out of Miami at the beach on the far Dutch side of the island, and prior to boarding at the end of our time in port we found ourselves with Ryan and Jennifer Adams along with Aaron at the last pub prior to embarking back upon our ship for sailing to the next destination: St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

After making sure all were aboard the Norwegian Epic set sail and the SQL Cruise staff and Cruisers collected on the aft deck for the Idera Iditarod contest (video to be posted soon; still photos do not do the event justice.)  Our winners were second-time SQL Cruiser Bill Sanstrainte and the aforementioned Ryan Adams – making him a redundant winner at the hands of Idera Software.  Congratulations Ryan and Bill!  They each receive a Flip Mini HD Camera courtesy of Idera Software!

The evening concluded early with office hours.  Discussions about indexing, execution plans, and volunteerism in the SQL Community gave way to nodding heads, blank stares, and yawns as the full day of sun and late meals on board took their toll on speakers, Cruisers, and yours-truly alike.

Today we meet for debarkation and a water ferry to the island of St. John’s for a quiet respite on the beach and office hours of the most-unique variety.  Most of the SQL Cruise group will be spending the day together so we will possibly have an unscheduled extra 8 hours of informal training, networking, and instruction today.

It will be sure to be another great day in Paradise aboard SQL Cruise!