Jamaica (March 1, 2005) – Island Outpost, a collection of distinct small hotels located in Jamaica and The Bahamas, is commemorating the 60th anniversary of Bob Marley’s birth with its One Love vacation package. Bob Marley preached peace and justice through his music and brought reggae to the world before his untimely death in 1981. To celebrate this legendary man, Island Outpost is offering reggae fans and music lovers the chance to experience Marley’s life up close and personal, while experiencing the funk and sexy sophistication of Jamaica’s hippest retreats.
"It’s all about the spirit. Sensibility. And Heart. Like Island Records, Island Outpost is about a feeling. The rush of discovery. The bliss of authenticity," says Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Outpost and Island Records, and well known for launching the career of Marley and U2, among others. "This is a chance to encapsulate the life of Bob Marley and share the vibe with travelers the world over."
The One Love vacation package is available at four Island Outpost properties in Jamaica: Strawberry Hill, Jake’s, Goldeneye, and The Caves. Guests who book five nights or more at any one or a combination of these resorts receive one iPod Shuffle per booking and a customized tour.
Strawberry Hill
At the unique mountain resort Strawberry Hill, 12 airy cottages, designed by Ann Hodges, cluster beside the Caribbean’s only Aveda Concept Spa, located at the resort. Wood shingled and gracious, the architecture reflects the original nineteenth-century buildings that once stood here with cooling louvers, ceiling fans, fretwork, and gables. Hammocks and rockers stand on the verandahs and hardwood floors and mahogany furniture - handcrafted on the premises - complete the genteel ambiance.
Bob Marley recuperated at Strawberry Hill after being shot and U2 chose this resort as a retreat from the limelight. The musicians chose wisely: just 30 minutes from New Kingston, this serene aerie is so stunning that Condé Nast Traveler declared that the "location - 3,000 feet up the Blue Mountains - beggars description."
The One Love package includes a guided tour of the Bob Marley Museum at 56 Hope Road, Studio One, and Trench Town. The museum, once Marley’s home, still shares its grounds with the Tuff Gong studio, where the reggae superstar recorded most of his masterpieces. Marley’s inspiration can also be traced to Trench Town, a housing scheme that replaced the area’s squatter camps and became ground zero of the Rastafarian movement.
Rates at Strawberry Hill are based on single or double occupancy and range from $325 per room, per night for a one-bedroom cottage to $775 for the ultimate Mountain View category.
Jake’s
Guests and locals mingle cheerfully at Jake’s, a six-acre, 29-room bohemian resort where dramatic cottages commune with the garden, sea, and sky near a secluded fishing village on Jamaica’s South Coast. The bohemian atmosphere comes as no surprise since Jake’s is run by the Henzell family, also responsible for the hippest Caribbean film of all time, Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come. The movie’s set designer unfurled her talents here: wild purples, pinks, yellows, and terracottas brighten the landscape, Moroccan domes and arches bloom, decks skim the waves, and shells, beads, and colored glass glitter brightly from walls. As travel writing legend Tim Cahill pointed out in Islands magazine, "just about everything is funky."
The One Love package includes a guided tour of Nine Miles, including a visit to the Peter Tosh monument. No trip to Jamaica is complete without a pilgrimage to Nine Miles, Marley’s birthplace and the site of his humble, but dignified, grave - a white mausoleum surrounded by a red, green, and yellow fence. Down Jamaica’s beautiful southwestern coast is the fishing village of Belmond, hometown of Wailer’s founding member Peter Tosh.
Rates at Jake’s are based on single or double occupancy and range from $115 per night for a one-bedroom gardenview room to $395 for the sinful, 800-square-foot beachfront Octopussy Suite.
Goldeneye
Be shaken, not stirred, by the splendor of James Bond’s birthplace. Dashing 007 originated at this 15-acre seaside hideaway, which blossomed around the home of Ian Fleming, who wrote 13 spy novels here. The author delighted in the landscape’s richness and praised "the blazing sunshine, natural beauty and the most healthy life I could live." Today, Fleming’s retreat near Ocho Rios is a boutique resort laced with beaches, tropical forest, caves, and secluded nooks. Intimate and informal, this idyll - four villas on a sea bluff, one overlooking a cove - attracts celebrities and other lovers of luxury.
The One Love package includes a trip to Nine Miles, birth and resting place of Bob Marley, or a guided tour of ReggaeXplosion, an audiovisual museum dedicated to the history of reggae music. Jamaica’s musical story unfolds in multimedia exhibits at this groundbreaking museum, located at Island Village in Ocho Rios. Ska, mento, roots, rock, reggae, dubmasters, DJs, dancehall, and key artists all merit attention here. Special sections highlight Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer.
Rates at Goldeneye are based on double occupancy and range from $895 per room, per night for a two-bedroom villa to $3,600 to live like James Bond in the Ian Fleming villa, which sleeps six.
The Caves
At The Caves, located in Negril, 10 handcrafted wood and stone cottages roofed in thatch nestle into a verdant landscape, crowned by a petite Aveda spa. The volcanic cliff on which it sits is honeycombed with grottoes - one strewn with flowers and candlelit for intimate dining, another harboring a bubbling hot tub, some just portals into the crystal-clear sea below. Small wonder The Caves was named the best hotel in the Caribbean by TripAdvisor, a leading travel website. The exclusive magazine Robb Report also celebrated this resort among the World’s 10 Great Escapes in March 2004: "Outside, turquoise water laps languidly against rocky cliffs, recalling the Caribbean before high tech hotels vanquished the landscape and personal watercraft disturbed the calm."
The One Love package includes a night of live reggae in Negril, where musicians groove everywhere - on the beaches and cliffs, cafés and clubs. Here guests can experience the soulful Caribbean rhythms in the cradle of reggae.
Rates at The Caves are based on single or double occupancy, include all meals and beverages, and range from $575 per room, per night for a one-bedroom suite to $925 for a deluxe two-bedroom suite.
The One Love vacation offer expires on December 31, 2005 and is subject to availability and availability of room categories. The tour package (not including the iPod Shuffle) is available for less than five night stays with an additional premium. For more information please contact Island Outpost at 1-800-OUTPOST in the US and Canada, 0800-OUTPOST1 in the UK, 1-876-960-8134 for all other countries, or e-mail reservations@islandoutpost.com.
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