Goldeneye Hotel & Resort, Oracabessa

This was our first trip to Goldeneye, although we have stayed several times at the Caves, so we know what to expect from Island Outpost as far as unparalleled excellence and luxurious boho-chic. Nevertheless, this place was truly outstanding....like the Caves, but with a beach. As always, the staff will go above and beyond to meet your every need. It is exceedingly private, so you may not have much interaction with anyone else...which is just fine for those of us loooking to truly escape. We also stayed in Honey Chile, and loved the access to the private beach down below. We also liked having free reign over the main house (as long as no one is staying there), and used the pool there, as well as cranked up the excellent stereo system they had indoors. We did not take advantage of any water activities..we had planned to but the sea turned rough on those days, eventually culminating in Hurricane Dennis. the private beach and lagoon is very cool...they shuttle you over in a glass bottom boat (although you could easily just swim across the little channel. The food is also excellent....more variety than I was used to at the Caves. We ate far too much....we had no idea the hurricane was approaching, but they sort of sat down at breakfast the morning before and said it was supposed to hit that night...and they would continue to monitor. We just shrugged and continued on our merry ways. Then that afternoon, as we lounged in the Fleming House pool, they came by to say they had rescheduled our flights for the next day, as the airport was totally closed. They said they might need to move us from our Villa, but we concluded it would be fine....that night we had a great dinner as we watched the lighting out over the water as the edge of dennis started to swirl out there....then it hit during the night. despite that, the staff continued to come by, in full foul weather gear, with fresh towels and three course meals throughout the day, buckets of red stripe and wine as the night began..it was the most luxurious hurricane we could ever imagine, not to mention having an extra free night at the resort....and the villa held up just fine, despite a branch crashing down on it...we'd go back in a heartbeat, with or without a hurricane.