GoldenEye Luxury Resort

Every one of GoldenEye’s villas are a little world of their own, set in verdant gardens overlooking the white sand beach or crystalline lagoon. Designed by Jamaican architect, Ann Hodges, their hardwood floors, high ceilings and large furniture set the perfect atmosphere for that rustic, bare-foot seaside lifestyle. Villas have either 1 or 2 bedrooms but all come with king-size beds and en suites as well as a stylish garden shower outside. They also come with a fully equipped kitchen, lounge area and private porch/garden. Depending on their location, villas open up directly either onto the beach or the lagoon, bringing the beauty of Jamaica right to your doorstep!

The Fleming Villa is one of the Caribbean’s most exclusive and enchanting destinations, a haven of tranquillity and natural beauty. It’s set on its own piece of land on the GoldenEye premises with its own private pool, beach and lavish tropical gardens. Unique to GoldenEye, those staying at the Fleming Villa will have an exclusive butler, housekeeper and cook.

For those who like to start or end their day with a refreshing swim or who simply love being by the waterside, there could be no better choice than GoldenEye’s Lagoon Cottages. Each has its own private dock and comes with a kayak, so you could spend a morning out exploring the lagoon then relax by the dock in the afternoon while listening to the lapping water. All Cottages come with king-size beds facing the lagoon and the little Santa Maria Island, en suite bathrooms and outdoor garden showers, and are mere steps away from the beach.

GoldenEye’s Beach Huts were built in the style of Chris Blackwell’s own hut to reflect the lifestyle he enjoys – simplicity, informality, serenity. The Beach Huts have been built in various heights and are scattered around a garden, which reaches Snorkeler’s Cove and the rooftop lounge on one side and Button Beach on the other. Every Beach Hut comes with comfy king-size beds, private verandas, and an indoor wet room or outside garden shower. Most are 1 bedroom but there is a 2 bedroom hut that’s a great choice for families or intimate groups.

Dining at GoldenEye is all about authentic Jamaican cuisine, from curries to vegetable dishes to grilled lobster, sourced locally and served fresh. Breakfasts and lunches are served at the casual, beachy Bizot restaurant while the Gazebo opens up for dinner, and if guests want to sample the flavours of Jamaican BBQ they can visit the rustic Bamboo Bar on Button Beach. But if you fancy something a little more private, you can have your meal brought right to you at your hut, cottage or villa so you can enjoy a breakfast by lagoon or dinner under the stars.

A visit to the Caribbean isn’t complete without a good rum punch, especially GoldenEye’s own spin made from a blend of Blackwell Rum and a secret fruity blend. Guests can savour a great range of rum-based cocktails and more at one of GoldenEye’s laidback bars – Bizot Bar by the pool, Bamboo Bar with smoky BBQ in the air and Shabeen with its rooftop lounge.

There are multiple beaches and coves at GoldenEye that open up possibilities for a great range of water-based activities that are led and supervised by the Wata Sports trained guides and instructors. You can venture out onto the water and explore on a kayak or stand-up paddle board, head over to Snorkeler’s Cover for some swimming among the fishes, ride on a glass-bottom boat for a unique look at the hundreds of fish and coral species, and even learn to sail with one of the Wata Sports team.

And, of course, you’ll be utterly spoiled for choice when you’re wanting to take a swim – the turquoise ocean, the sun-warmed lagoon, the fresh-water pools at Shabeen and the Bizot Bar, the salt-water splash pool, surely you’ll have to try them all!

Sail out on one of GoldenEye’s 2 fishing boats with a picnic and some drinks into the deep blue waters and cast your line in hopes of finding a Blue and White Marlin, Barracuda, Sailfish, Spearfish or Wahoo.

The tennis-court is open all day and night, and operates on a first-come-first-serve basis.

On the edge of the lagoon is the FieldStone Spa. Guests start to unwind before they’re even up on the table, surrounded by fresh air, earthy spices and the sparkling water. The spa has an extensive menu of restorative treatments to cure whatever ails you, including varieties of massage, salt scrubs, body wraps, facials, manicures and pedicures, meditation, healing baths and waxing. Many of the products used are made right at the spa, drawn from traditional Jamaican recipes to promote healing and relaxation.

Every one of Island Outpost’s hotels is committed to supporting the communities they operate within through encouraging eco-friendly initiatives, helping those in need and providing local job opportunities. They aim to minimise their impacts on the environment while also preserving the natural habitats of the surrounding wildlife. Island Outpost created the Island ACTS (Assisting Communities Toward Strength), which is a charitable organisation committed to relieving poverty for those who are underprivileged in Jamaica, predominantly through education, healthcare and community development projects. They also support Jamaica agriculture and, by extent, the Jamaican economy, by purchases of local and fresh produce, meats and seafood.

The Oracabessa Foundation was founded in 1995 with the aim of advancing sustainable development for the community and its citizens. The main objective is to nurture independence and responsibility among the community and encourage sustainable development initiatives. These include:

• Establishing and managing facilities/programmes for education, healthcare, recreation and the environment
• Spreading awareness of the community’s cultural heritage and devising means to preserve it for future generations
• Encouraging enterprise in several areas such as digital literacy, e-commerce and hospitality

To support these initiatives the Oracabessa Foundation has undertaken various projects from mediation of disputes to cultural programmes to agriculture to creating new computer labs.

In 2012, GoldenEye partnered with Mel ‘Jamaica’s Turtle Man’ Tennant to help protect sea turtles, who are key players in the Caribbean’s marine ecosystem. Due to the myth claiming turtle eggs work as aphrodisiacs, illegal poaching remains a real problem in Jamaica. Tennant tackled this head on and made sure that Gibraltar beach, where turtles laid their eggs, was watched over and protected, increasing their survival rate from 37% to 80%. He and his team also make sure that the newly hatched turtles make it safely back to the sea. Since partnering with Tennant, thousands of guests have visited Gibraltar beach to see the amazing impacts had on sea turtle populations.

The GoldenEye Foundation was created with the purpose of creating programmes that will have positive and lasting impacts on the quality of life for the people of Oracabessa community. The Foundation aims to help them cultivate a healthy environment where they can reach their fullest potential, not only for their own benefit but for that of their families and future generations, and the Foundation works to achieve this through projects that fall under two core alignments – people and planet.

The core goal of the programme is to ensure the health, positive engagement and wellbeing of the people in the Oracabessa Community, especially for the young generations and for women. In 2009, GoldenEye Foundation established the Jacks River Skills Training Centre in partnership with the HEART/NSTA Trust, Jamaica’s National Training Agency, to broaden employment opportunities for young people. So far 900 young people have been accredited with vocational skills such as construction, hospitality and housekeeping. In 2012, the Foundation built the Caribbean’s very first BMX track for the local youth and utilised it to cultivate teamwork, discipline and responsibility as well as a great time.

Most recently, in 2020, the Foundation launched the Growing Together programme to promote the development of alternative livelihoods and support those affected by Covid-19. The programme supported the start-up of an agriculture-based business by giving support, supplies and offering an 9 month training course in agriculture-business development.

The core of the Foundation’s planet programme is marine conservation – preserving the biodiversity and balance of the ecosystem in Oracabessa Bay as a Marine Protected Area. Alongside protecting coral reefs and partnering with Mel ‘the Turtle Man’ Tennant, the Foundation setup the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary in 2010 as their very own Marine Protected Area. The aim is to increase the size of the local fish population and nurture the overall health of the coral reefs within Oracabessa Bay. In 2019, the Foundation also launched Jamaica’s first Dive Centre to be managed as a non-profit organisation, with all profits going towards funding their marine conservation programmes.

GoldenEye is a proud member of Pack for a Purpose, an initiative designed so travellers can make a lasting and beneficial on the communities they visit. If guests have a bit of space in their luggage they can bring a few things along to pass on to places like the local school or health clinic, or they can buy some supplies locally to donate.

Every year thousands of tons of sun cream enters into coral reef areas and has had detrimental impacts. So, GoldenEye has worked to restore the health of their coral reef and spreading the growth of Staghorn coral and has started selling Soleil Toujours sun protection products, which are the only ones that won’t damage the marine ecosystem, in their gift shop.