GoldenEye

The road · Friday morning

Miami at 8:30, Montego Bay at 10:15

GoldenEye is Ian Fleming’s estate at Oracabessa, on the north coast of Jamaica. He found the land in 1946, fifteen acres that had been a donkey racetrack, and sketched the house on a desk blotter. Chris Blackwell bought it in 1976 and added land around it. You come to spend a weekend in the water.

On Friday, November 13, American’s nonstop is timetabled to leave Miami at 8:30 a.m. and land in Montego Bay at 10:15. In winter there is no clock to change: Jamaica keeps Eastern Standard Time all year. For US citizens, a passport is the only document you need.

The road east is 73 miles. The resort gives it as an hour and a half in one place and an hour and three-quarters in another; plan for the longer. They drive on the left, and the resort will send a driver. Kingston is 57 miles away, about two hours, but the resort suggests Montego Bay. If you would rather fly the coast, a helicopter takes 40 minutes from Montego Bay to a helipad at James Bond Beach, two minutes from the gate. Leave downtown Miami at 6:30 and you are on the lagoon a little before one.

The lagoon · Friday afternoon

A cottage on the water, for two

The heart of the estate is a four-acre lagoon, green and still, with a small uninhabited island at its center, Santa Maria. For two, ask for a Lagoon Cottage. The bed faces the water and the island. Each cottage has its own dock and its own kayak, a claw-foot tub and a shower outdoors in the garden, and Low Cay Beach is a few steps away.

Check-in is at 3 p.m. The rooms are left open to the breeze unless you ask for the air conditioning. There is Blackwell rum in the room and a hand-dyed batik robe. The resort keeps the entire James Bond series on its shelves, and backgammon sets. Everything is paid in US dollars.

The other choice for two is a Beach Hut, between Snorkeler’s Cove and Button Beach, with a wet room inside, an open-air room on the dune and a shower outdoors. For a family, there are one- to three-bedroom villas on the beach and the lagoon, designed by the Jamaican architect Ann Hodges. The resort does not publish its rates on its pages; the booking page quotes them by date.

The Gazebo · Friday, sunset

Dinner above two waters

The Gazebo stands open to the air above Low Cay Beach on one side and the lagoon on the other. Go before the sun goes down and order the GoldenEye cocktail. Dinner runs from local surf and turf to Jamaican dishes, with an international wine list, and produce comes from Pantrepant Farm.

There is no dress code to speak of. The resort’s own answer to the question fits on one line: no jackets, no ties, flip-flops yes. Live streams, content shoots and drones are prohibited unless the resort approves them.

The beaches · Saturday

Low Cay, the cove, Button Beach

Start with the lagoon at sunrise, on a paddleboard or in your kayak. Breakfast is at Bizot Bar, on the western arm of Low Cay Beach.

Low Cay is the main beach, 500 feet of white sand. Take a mask and fins to Snorkeler’s Cove. The beach guides are trained lifeguards, and there are kayaks and glass-bottom boats.

Lunch is at the Bamboo Bar on Button Beach, the rum bar with sand underfoot: jerk from the grill, and fish that local fishermen bring in when their boats land. At the end of the day, take a Red Stripe up to the roof of Shabeen and look at the sea.

In winter the air averages 77°F, and the sea stays between 80 and 84°F.

If you want to leave the estate once, it is for Firefly, up the hill: the house Noël Coward bought in 1948, where the Queen Mother came to lunch in 1965. The resort promises a bumpy ride.

The house · For ten

The house he drew

The Fleming Villa is the house Fleming designed, with three bedrooms: a master suite, a queen room and a room with twin beds, each with a garden bath, a claw-foot tub and a shower outside. Two cottages, Sweet Spot and Pool House, bring it to ten adults.

It comes with its own beach, its own pool and a media room with a bar, and with a butler, a cook and a housekeeper. Meals are served where you like: between the two almond trees in the sunken garden, or on the beach, at a grill cut into the cliff.

The house says Fleming wrote his Bond books here, every winter, starting with Casino Royale in 1952, at 2,000 words a day. He decided the house would have no glass in its windows, only Jamaican jalousie blinds to let in the air. In 1956 the British prime minister, Anthony Eden, stayed three weeks and planted a tree in the garden, a custom that continues. It is booked by telephone, through the reservations team.

Ian Fleming wrote James Bond in a house with no glass in its windows.

Sunday

Breakfast, one more swim, the evening flight

Keep the whole day. On Sunday, November 8, American flew back from Montego Bay at 11:05 a.m. and again at 6:09 p.m., landing in Miami at 8:05. Take the evening flight.

Have a Jamaican breakfast at Bizot, swim the lagoon one last time, and have lunch at the Bamboo Bar with your feet in the sand. Check-out is at noon. Leave by three for the drive west.

One reserve, and the resort makes it first. Oracabessa is a village that plays its music loud, from sound systems you may hear at night. The resort says it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Pack earplugs if you are not sure.