SQL Cruise Caribbean 2012 Day 7 – Bahamas Day
Day Seven on a SQL Cruise is always bittersweet for me. It reminds me of the waning days of summer camp as a child; which is fitting because it’s that Summer Camp Feel I try to foster for the experience of our Cruisers while on a SQL Cruise. On Day Seven you know that it’s almost over and you try to put as much attention into the absorbing each event and nuance you can from the day while doing your best to ignore those nagging thoughts over all the packing, rushing, and goodbyes that are coming your way over the course of the 12 hours that close out the evening and start the final day of the cruise the following day. The staff that were so accomodating throughout the week will be doing their best to gently push you to the door the following morning.
Setting aside these thoughts and feelings it was time to kick off our final day on the cruise. This was to be the only day that we had both class and a shore excursion. This SQL Cruise I did my best to avoid stacking too many activities in the schedule for a given day. In the past I felt that perhaps I forced too much group time, class time, and not enough personal time onto my SQL Cruisers. This cruise was to be an experiment in letting them spend more time on their own or in small groups. This day, though was planned out from start-to-finish.
We met slightl
y earlier than we had been throughout the week since we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas at noon. Brent presented on his final topic – performance tuning with Solid State Drives – taking us literally and actually inside the SSD thanks to him hacking apart an old Mac Air. We learned of the benefits (despite the risks of a higher-than-average failure rate) of moving to SSD and I’ve been won over. I’d love to move to SSD for tempdb storage after this presentation however that is a fight I need to take to my Server Engineers. Unfortunately, those who do hold the purse strings in our organizations have difficulty looking beyond the immediate costs associated with SSD when it comes to the long-term savings through increased productivity and energy savings that SSDs can provide.
Once Brent was done and I made final (sad-face) announcements for SQL Cruise I dismissed class for the last time. Many of us met up again for various excursions ashore in The Bahamas and for my family and I it meant leading a large group of SQL Cruisers to Atlantis Resort. We were joined by Ryan Adams and his wife, Jennifer; Patrick Lynch; Brandon Leach; and we caught glimpses occasionally of DeWet Erasmus and his girlfriend Chan Davies. Though the water was a bit cold at the Atlantis aquapark we did have a great day riding the rides, discussing work, and fostering the concept of networking while outside the confines of the normal work/training environment.
Once we returned to the Norwegian Epic many of us assembled for one last meal together at the Teppenyaki hibachi restaurant on board. This is a standing tradition going back to the very first SQL Cruise and it allows us all to meet informally one last time and review what we discussed in class and experienced on board SQL Cruise. It’s a nice, relaxing close to the week.
After many of us completed our packing once dinner was complete we found ourselves in a final Office Hours aboard the Epic. Discussing blogging, training, presenting, consulting, and technical questions – working through many issues I hope in the process. It was nice to hear that like many Cruisers before, many in this group of Cruisers would look forward to the opportunity to join us again on a future SQL Cruise.
I look forward to making that happen.
Day four found us with our second land day of SQL Cruise Miami 2012. As a group we decided to take the lead from someone who had been to St. Thomas a half-dozen times in the past…
Yes, we hailed a taxi – all thirteen of us – and made our way to the opposite side of the island from the cruise ship docks and the host of trinket and jewelry shops for a ship of a different kind; one that would take us to St. John for our final destination: Trunk Bay. This may have been my favorite stop on all of the SQL Cruises so far though it’s a close vote with our snorkeling trip in Ketchikan, Alaska last year. Odd how both these trips involve snorkeling and 5,000 miles in opposite directions. Brent Ozar was our tour guide on this stop of SQL Cruise Miami 2012. We made our way from St. Thomas via ferry service to St. John then hailed a second taxi to the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park and Trunk Bay where we were able to take in the white sand beaches, warm breezes, and the aforementioned snorkeling.
After returning to the ship we met up for consulting and networking time at our SQL Cruise Cocktail Party. Topics covered were resume building and interviewing horror stories along with all the technical trappings that come with being a DBA. We also took the opportunity to celebrate Aaron Betrand’s birthday. Happy Birthday Aaron. Hopefully it was a memorable one!
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.
The evening agenda for SQL Cruise kicked off first however at the Spice H2O Pool and Grill where we held the Brent Ozar PLF Art Auction. If you’ve gone on a cruise before you know they do what they can to separate you from your money. One of those methods are by holding art auctions – they lure you in with free champagne in the hopes you will make some starving artist not so hungry and the cruise line will happily take a commission on the sale. On SQL Cruise we have our twist on the genre. Including our own money which we provide to the Cruisers. Some prizes are great. Some, well let’s just say some are great fun. From underwater digital cameras to posters of dogs playing poker everyone walked away with something after the auction.