As a part of what we do at VoyageTV we get to some pretty compelling places. I mean we go where tourist are drawn to and we try to find the stories that make those places special. (Pictured: Dive boat out from Red Hook Dive Center)

First things first was the business presentation, which went well. Great. We want to put great video of the destination on the VoyageTV platform so anyone thinking about getting to the destination knows what to expect from both the property they’re staying with as well as the destination overall. That’s what we do. That’s work and it’s generally pretty cool when one considers all the things that work might be.

And when work is over it’s time to not work. St. Thomas is ideal for not working. There are great beaches, great food, great wine, great diving, great hosts and beautiful vistas. Reality check moment — now in almost every destination, when you step out of a Caribbean resort it’s going to be pretty apparent how blessed we are in the States and how much we usually take that for granted.

That said, I honestly can’t always wrestle those issues and headed for what was described as one of the best restaurant for locals:

RESTAURANTS

Craig and Sally’s — I would go here every week if I lived in St. Thomas. It’s an upscale, gourmet version of Cheer’s where everyone will know your name, and beer is replaced with vino. Nice. Maybe not the place for local locals, peas and rice local, but locals like the lawyers and professionals who work to keep the St. Thomas train on its tracks. Fantastic spot nestled in a neighborhood called Frenchtown.

And yes, I went to Grand Cru restaurant in Yacht Haven Grand, and even had a ginger ale at Fat Turtle. Back in Frenchtown, I stopped in at Oceana which is amazingly gorgeous, but I was here on business and flying solo could skip the gorgeous sunset. Highly recommended even if solo.

HOTELS

Ok, in two days we stopped at every major hotel on the island. It’s hard to rank hotels in that everyone has a particular style and that can change depending on whether you’re looking to party or relax. Anyway, I stayed at the Windward Passage hotel which is ideal for business. Great staff, centrally located, walking distance to my favorite restaurant Craig & Sally’s, delivered on the best driver in the destination (Henry, email me for his number), that said, it’s not on the beach, though provides comp transport to the beach — perfect for me, but here’s the general list without elaboration (from what I saw):

Ritz Carlton

Marriott Frenchman’s Reef

Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort

Bolongo Bay Beach Resort (special mention here — if you’re looking for that Jimmy Buffet, kick back on the beach, don’t need marble dining room type-of-spot then this is great. Pre-marriage this would likely be first choice, but that’s just me — and not to say that you, your wife and kids wouldn’t enjoy this — all I’m saying is MY wife might not)

Secret Harbor (stopped in — looked great — didn’t see the whole property and wow website looks fantastic)

Sapphire Beach Resort – hmmm…

DIVING

So this was a business trip that I extended by a day to squeeze in a dive. Red Hook Dive Center gets a five star rating — or check them on Facebook. Just wonderful staff on the boat — really professional and funny and just good dive pro’s.

So that’s it. Go. Hear St. Johns and St. Croix are great in their respective ways. Lots of sailing options and they’re all part of the United States. They’re our spot in the Caribbean.

Excuse the picture, but this was a fairly common view getting from one appointment to the next in Mexico City. Arrived Monday night to make a Tuesday morning meeting and left Friday. If you don’t want to read the entire post I can describe selling ads in Mexico with one word: hard.

I mean selling ads in always hard. I started my first magazine 20 years ago – as a recent Facebook post reminds me – almost 20 years ago I was publisher/founder of Intrigue Magazine and we shot this outside of Houston:

In any case, Mexico City is massive. The City has traffic like nowhere I’ve been to. While I personally saw no real security issues it stays top of mind. Having lived in Houston for many years I think my perception of Mexico might be different than many New Yorkers. I know there is a energetic nightlife, lots of creativity and generally lots going on, but finding a path to that scene as a visitor requires a guide. I didn’t have one, nor was this trip for that.

Top Five Suggestions if Your Are Selling Ads in Mexico

1. Learn the language and be prepared to speak fluently.

2. If #1 is out of the question, do what we do and hire competent and trusted reps who can deliver relationships. Business here is highly relationship driven.

3. Patience. Be patient in getting to your appointment (traffic) and expect that there will be significant follow-up.

4. Value proposition needs to be crystal clear — while one could argue that this should always be the case, think again, simplify and clarify.

5. Leave the “American” in America, successful business in Mexico are doing well because they’re smart and the team running them know how to operate within their frame. Understand what their frame, they get America, and in our business (travel) do lots of business, but they do business in a way that is different than here; often more courteous, or more according to protocol; and more about developing relationships.

Understand that this is a fairly PC list, but trip was fairly straight up and down. Lots of presentations introducing a somewhat new way to speak to travel consumers (long-form video content on the Web and Cable) and lots more follow-up. Little sleep, good food, and thankfully a rep (Towmar) with 30 years of experience and relationships. Stayed at the Hotel Marquis Reforma right by Chapultepec Park — a solid business-trip type of hotel — bad wine list, but good looking property, decent rooms, good food, pool and great service. Be back there soon.

I went to Atlantis. Squeezed in a quick weekend with coconut trees. Man I miss coconut trees when I don’t see them for a while.

This is not the best picture of the property as I relied on my Blackberry Curve with a camera considerably less than stellar. But give me a beach and a book and I’m happy.

The property overall is amazing for its scale and sheer spectacle with shark tanks and pools and stingrays and rides. My 3 year-old was wowed and I got off-property to go diving with Bahamas Divers who I would recommend, as they did count everyone on the boat several times and seemed genuinely concerned about getting everyone back in one piece. There were about 20 people on the boat, so as any diver knows, that experience can vary greatly.

Also made it to Graycliff. A legendary boutique hotel with one of the largest wine cellars in the world and a house brand of cigars that is also world-class. I got the tour of both the cellar and the cigar shop (they roll and age their own on the premises) and definitely want to go back just to sample the encyclopedic offering of wines and maybe light up a cigar.

I did drink the house wine at Graycliff and was surprised that it was Kaiken (2007 Cabernet Sauvignon) and after tasting it now plan on keeping a few bottles in the house. Graycliff has over 250,000 bottles of wine from more than 400 vintners. Getting there was about a $12 cab ride from Atlantis.

Atlantis overall is great for kids. If you get there you won’t run out of activities. And as importantly, you can keep yourself more than entertained.

I used a Helley Hansen vest (buoyancy aid) sailing a couple of weeks ago and it worked on a couple of levels. For one, it was cold and the vest was more helpful in keeping me from freezing than an auto-inflate style that drapes around your neck. And second it looked better.

There is an aspect of sailing that has a certain style to it. Some (many) sailors have refined a look that within the small circle who might appreciate it, seems cool. Honestly, I never really paid attention until the Russian Boat Leasing guy last year (who looked cool) mentioned, casually, that not only do you want to exit the marina without hitting anyone or anything, but you want to look good doing it. Hmmm.

And now that he mentioned it, I see that some serious thought goes into ones’ “look” so to speak. And there is a wide range and certainly a country-by-country variation of what that aesthetic is, but it’s definitely there. Sure some guys toss on shorts and sandals, but I’m not talking about them. No, I’m talking about the guys who are dropping $400 bucks for Dubarry boots. Boat boots.

In any case, the Helley Hansen worked for me. It’s not an off-shore vest, and I’m sure one could easily regret purchasing a black vest if one were say over-board…at night…without a light. But during the day, while on the boat, the vest looks sharp. Problem is they don’t sell it in the USA. Not even on the eagerly anticipated Helley Hansen sale on Gilt Groupe that went off back in March. I mean that was a long shot anyway, Gilt is more of a cuff links and Euro shirt kind of proposition for the most part.

But I found something similar at Rob Perry Marine in the UK and with a few Skype calls (thanks to Andy at Rob Perry) we managed to find/deliver what a simple trip to West Marine here in the States should have in stock, but don’t.

Wouldn’t recommend form over function in most critical gear, but I trust the Brits, so even if the US Coast Guard have not (yet) approved the vest (buoyancy aid) I’m confident that it floats both on its own and with me in it. Just look forward to not ever testing the latter. And chalk up another successful search in the name of the great outdoors, you can never have too much gear…

Bumpy ride home from Race – Long Island Sound – Ker 50 from John Pasmore on Vimeo.

Not doing a huge long post, but sailed on a Ker 50 in breezy weather. Wow. Add being overwhelmingly busy with Voyage.tv and is a bit over-the-top at times.

Man, feel like a rookie (which I am) in this kind of boat in this kind of race, but remember feeling same way learning to dive and kayak. It’s up and over — there’s no way to get past inexperience other than by gaining experience (and perhaps keeping your head down in the process). But will do best given the overall state of affairs. Having couple thousand miles of blue-water experience means little — totally different. Happy to be on the water….even as the new guy…

Sailed with Oakcliff Sailing Center out of Oyster Bay, Long Island — very impressive crew.

Been trying to get out on the water for weeks and finally made it. The Ker IRC 11.5 is fast and light. And the experienced crew was amazing to practice with. Will try and get a better picture now that I see how few are on the Net — had hands more than full trying to accomplish whatever I was supposed to do on the bow so my picture-taking was a little challenged.

Mostly just good to be on the water. Compared to all else wind and water seem a whole lot more permanent and for me, a connection to the planet. While work is always both a challenge and reward, but the water is a giant reset — not that one think is more rewarding than the other, kinda ying/yang, both are necessary in their own way and take diligence, require skill with no shortage of lessons to be learned. Just that I can really feel the wind and the water…

I’m not sure that there is a more scenic road than US Highway 1 in the country. I had to venture out over the Golden Gate bridge on a recent trip for the TV of Tomorrow conference in California and stopped at Muir Beach for a break from business.

Sure the conference was great, and as we take Voyage.tv to more and more cable outlets its great to meet some of our current business partners and meet new ones. We’ve been working hard to get our content out on the Web beyond our site with some success

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/VoyageChannel

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gourmet-regionale/id361388469

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nirvana/id361210549

5min: http://www.5min.com/VoyageTV

Twitter: http://twitter.com/voyagetv/

Islands Magazine: http://www.islands.com/

Daily Motion: http://www.dailymotion.com/voyagetv

Pretty happy as a start-up, and as a start-up always more to do. Takes effort to keep some perspective on business and the beach has always been a good place for that…quick moment of reflection better than none at all…for me.

Looking forward to getting back out there…on the water.

I’ve had some pretty not so great bags over the course of a variety of years. And some good ones. Lately I’ve been looking to find a one that could do double duty; work + outdoor would be ideal but is a long shot.

For work, generally, I use a Filson, which is canvas and leather, doesn’t look like a backpack (a plus) and works fine. One of my best purchases was made a decade ago; a Mandarina Duck bag I scored while in Italy. From what I could tell they don’t make it anymore — it’s a black duffel that has hidden shoulder straps if you want to carry it on your back. I think I used those once in ten years (shoulder strap is fine).  I have this thing about luggage-on-wheels. I understand that it’s practical, but I can’t pull the string. I dunno, if it’s too heavy to carry then unload it and try again. Seems a little geriatric.

It’s about time to retire the Duck, but not critical. Sailing is. So I’ve tried a couple bags sailing. And by sailing lets say day-sails, racing, or even long weekends — nothing major. Ideally, this new bag would work as a day-pack as well. For overnight outdoors I have an old (decade) Marmot Shooting Star (3500 Cubic inches), another bag no longer in production.

I’ve looked at the usual bag suspects and have included a bunch of links. But I saw only few good choices for sailing. Most “sailing” bags are 100% waterproof which is kinda important, but most of the time your bag won’t get wet. I think waterproof bags/sacks inside a water resistant bag is fine, so I went with it. For interior waterproof bags I use Pacific Outdoor drybags with an airvent (pneumo) that allows you to compress the air out of the bag easier than a regular roll-top. They’re great.

So after looking at:

Motorcycle pack: Ergon

Sailing Packs/Bags: Harken

Kayak/Messenger: Sealline (which I like)

Patagonia Duffle (too expensive)

Trendy Master Piece Fade Black (ehh…too expensive a little too big)

Another Motorcycle Pack: Kriega

and even classic Fjallraven – not practical for sailing

and even more not worth mentioning, I went with Ortovox, (pictured above) why?

Made for skiing, its pretty water resistant (has not arrived yet so this is a guess). So will work for skiing, fine for outdoors, should be fine for boating, and maybe even for trips (like vacation if I can squeeze one in). In any case will update as I get insight and am, you know, looking…

Squeezed in an all-day Match Racing clinic out at Oak Cliff Sailing Center on Saturday (in a driving rain storm). Great info. The clinic was led by legendary sailor Dave Perry (Dave is actually seated in front of the computer in this picture and in videos below, NOT standing with red jacket).

There are so many references to him and his accomplishments on the Web, I didn’t know where to link to. It’s humbling to sit in the audience, and later this year looking forward to getting some of his insight when we’re out on the water. Oak Cliff’s Exec Director, the super accomplished Dawn Riley , took over after to talk about the upcoming season and sounds pretty exciting. Dawn Riley on Twitter here.

If you’re curious what one might learn in a Match Racing clinic here is a small clip — Dave turned to the presentation over to a couple of the umpires in the audience. During the race two boats follow the race looking for penalty’s and the call the race out loud on the boat to keep track of what’s going on in front of them:

Oak Cliff – One from John Pasmore on Vimeo.

Oak Cliff – Two from John Pasmore on Vimeo.

The clips just give a sense of the day and apologize for their lack of substance, but you know, you gotta sign-up for the clinic! Takeaways were read the rules and know the rules because your tactics are dictated by the rules as much as the wind.

I had passed TAD Gear several times on the Internet. Its dense pages, black background and camo-inspired introduction kinda leaned a little too heavy towards the military for me. But I had the chance to stop by the store while in San Francisco and I’ve got a whole new perspective.

But backing up a bit, even military-like gear is cause for pause. In Panama, I got dropped off in the San Blas Islands, on Por Venir which about the size of three square city blocks. But since it had an airstrip it also had 6 heavily armed and extremely bored/surly/dangerous looking Panamanian soldiers. And while Panama is “friendly” they didn’t exude much sense of welcome.

I needed to spend the night on Por Venir as I had missed the days flight and I needed to get my passport stamped.  I began to understood why sailors tend to not recommend wearing camouflage anything.  If I was mistaken for military I think my already tense/suspicious interaction would likely have ramped up one very uncomfortable notch. Miles from a paved road and sharing a strip of land with a few of the native Kuna I think my side of any story would have sorely lacked corroboration. Long story less so,  “military” gear is not always the best international travel apparel.

That said, TAD is much, much interesting in person than on the Internet. The staff was great and seeing the gear in person made me understand just how well made it really is. It’s top notch. Some of the best I’ve seen. Much of unique, most designed right there and manufactured in the USA. The apparel and the packs would rate as some of the best you could buy.

I paid for some pants (without the cargo pockets) and I will def keep an eye on the site. It’s worth stopping through if you’re in San Francisco. It’s on the industrial side of the Mission District, and parking was/is challenging (understatement).

T.A.D Gear

660 22nd Street

San Francisco, CA 94107

(415)318-8252