Environment

Jamaica Inn isn’t just a comfortable spot for guests – it’s a haven for our colony of Hawksbill turtles. These gentle creatures safely nest and hatch on our beach every summer from July to November.

In the summer months, guests can witness mother turtles come ashore and dig a nest to lay her eggs, or help tiny turtle hatchlings make their way to the open sea.

To plan your stay around this magical experience, have a look at our turtle release calendar. However, please understand that our little hatchings are dependent on Mother Nature and subject to change!

View turtle hatching calendar

Since the 1970s, severe weather events, overfishing and disease have led to an 85% reduction in coral coverage in the waters around Ocho Rios, leading to a decrease in the size and quality of fish by 600%.

After lots of hard work and collaboration with local fisherman, the White River Fish Sanctuary is now in operation, largely funded and facilitated by the Jamaica Inn Foundation.

This includes a five-year coral restoration programme, with appointed wardens to protect our waters – three of whom are now trained as coral gardeners. Now fish can grow to their full breeding potential, producing millions instead of thousands of eggs.

Traditional, fossil-fuel-dependent vehicles are becoming a thing of the past, and the electric vehicle (EV) revolution is well underway. We’re delighted to be part of a more positive future as the first resort in Jamaica to have EV charging stations.

Our guests and local visitors can now charge their electric vehicles while enjoying lunch or afternoon tea with us, or while visiting the Ocean Spa.

The beautiful, fresh orchids you’ll find decorating all our suites and cottages resort are homegrown.

In 2017, we installed our very own orchid greenhouse at the inn, and provided training for three of our gardeners to give our orchids the specialised care they need.

Now, we can be self-sufficient, supplying our fresh flowers from right here on site.

Since January 2018, we’ve baled all our cardboard, tin, plastics and paper waste. These bales are then sold back to the Jamaica Recycling Company by weight and sent off for recycling.

We’ve also distributed recycling bins around the resort to separate plastics and carboard. This has cut the volume of waste we send to landfill by around half, substantially reducing the quantity of harmful products that find their way to our rivers and sea.

We also have five onsite composting pods, which we use to produce fertiliser and mulch to nourish our extensive, lush gardens.

Finding more renewable, sustainable ways to manage our energy use is a huge priority for us.

In 2014 and 2015, we installed solar panels to offset some of the hotel’s electricity requirements and generate 45 kwh of power per day.

What’s more, a new initiaitive funded by the USAID is currently underway to investigate potentially adding more panels to expand our reliance on solar energy as opposed to fossil fuels.

In 2017, we set out to harness the rainwater run-off from buildings around the resort along with the waste water from the hotel’s laundry.

This involved installing extensive roof guttering and three, 2,000-gallon tanks, alongside an existing underground treatment tank to harness and process grey water for irrigating the grounds. Next, the areas were piped, sprinkler heads added and a timer-controlled system installed.

The result? Now, 90% of all our lawns and flower beds are fed nitrate-rich water by the system. This means a huge cost saving on water consumption – and prenially lush, beautiful green grounds.