Before it opened in 2021, the 75-room Golden Rock Resort on St. Eustatius island was 40 acres of empty rocky terrain.Photos supplied by Golden Rock Resort
From the front of the small passenger plane, I watched the navigation display in the pilot’s cockpit. A tiny, teardrop-shaped destination lit up the screen.
I recalled zooming in on this island on Google Maps before my January trip. Its name, St. Eustatius – or “Statia,” as locals call it – was nowhere to be found. This made sense: Only around 3,270 people live on the roughly 19-square-kilometre Dutch-Caribbean island located between St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Statia is not a popular tourist destination, it has no white-sand beaches to lounge on or swim in. Yet as the plane descended over the limestone cliff sides, with a verdant green dormant volcano towering above, I wondered why the island is not more well-known.
I soon learned its remoteness is part of the appeal. It’s what has kept the hiking trails around Quill volcano and national park pristine and quiet, and its surrounding coral reefs preserved (National Geographic named Statia “the best place to dive in the Caribbean”) – inspiring the island’s only resort to embrace what makes it so special.
“Our island, nobody has ever heard of it,” said Peter Barnhoorn, the Dutch-born owner of the cliffside Golden Rock Dive and Nature Resort. “There are no traffic lights. There is no hurry. Everybody is waving at each other when they pass by. There is a very familiar feeling, and that’s exactly what people are looking for on a holiday,” he says.
There is a shuttle cart ‘train’ that transports guests to the resort’s infinity pool.
Opened in 2021, the 75-room resort was once 40 acres of empty rocky terrain. It now has thousands of solar panels, and even a reverse osmosis system to provide clean drinking water from the ocean. “It was a hell of a job,” says Barnhoorn, who prioritized keeping the resort’s CO2 footprint as low as possible. In 2024, the resort opened its own PADI Dive Center, which takes guests to coral reefs and 18th-century shipwrecks.
When it comes to resorts, I’m not a fan of the cookie-cutter utopias that are completely cut off from the host country. However, staying at Golden Rock was quite different.
When our group of seven went on a dive and snorkelling tour with Statia Divers, we were the only ones out exploring these sites, spotting sea turtles, octopuses and tropical fish in healthy reefs that have not been degraded by too much human activity, unlike elsewhere in the Caribbean. Divers could search for historical artifacts often found here on the ocean floor, including glass blue beads, once used as currency during the slave trade until slavery was abolished by the Dutch in 1863 – now, locals reclaim the beads as a part of their culture.
Last year, the resort opened its own dive centre, which takes guests to coral reefs and 18th-century shipwrecks.
Goats roam around the resort, like they do all over the island (it’s commonly said that there are more goats than people). Though, it’s not customary to treat goats as pets here. When we told our driver that “goat yoga” is trendy in North America, he was appalled and laughed in amazement for the rest of the ride.
Quill volcano is right next door – almost a main fixture of the hotel – and it’s a short drive to the start of the trail.
In the few days I was there, I’d rarely see another guest on the enormous, landscaped grounds, save for a little girl on a bike making her way up the path – no parents in sight, the resort her own safe playground.
If it weren’t for the rooms’ fully modern kitchens and minimalist design – or the shuttle cart “train” that picks you up in minutes to take you to the infinity pool, full-service spa, and pickleball and padel courts – one might think this resort was an extension of the island’s lush, quiet, mountain farm town.
The resort offers pickleball and padel courts.
The resort’s two restaurants source ingredients from a co-op with around 100 chickens on the property, and from a large greenhouse where guests are free to pick fresh herbs for tea or cooking, or veggies such as beets or cabbage.
Diving is the main attraction in Statia, but Golden Rock gives you plenty to see above ground, too. Meandering through the gardens was my favourite part. Barnhoorn, who has long been in the rose-growing business, has grown an expanse of more than 140,000 types of plants and flowers – from olive trees to grape trees. He believes modern amenities are only part of what sets a hotel apart: “Nature is what gets people to the point of relaxation.”
On departure, when I looked back from the passenger plane window at the island, I braced myself to be back in the bustle of the airport and the busy city. The truly off-the-beaten-path vacation, with its blend of luxury and adventure, had been a much-needed escape.
The resort’s restaurants source ingredients from a large greenhouse where guests are free to pick fresh herbs or veggies.
If you go
If you’re at Golden Rock Resort to dive, look for the “Stay and Dive” packages, but individual tank dives and equipment rental are also available. Courses for beginners or intermediate divers are held in a ocean-fed lagoon where fish and lobster hang around a sunken school bus. Rooms start from US$349 a night. The Open Water PADI course is US$799, and Advanced is US$599. For details, visit goldenrockresort.com.
If you’re hiking, head to to the top of the Quill, a stratovolcano, for panoramic views of ocean. Or, you can hike the path that goes into the crater to explore the different flora and fauna – an intermediate hike with rock scrambles.
There are no direct flights to Statia. Travellers can fly into St. Maarten and take a smaller plane for a 20-minute flight to St. Eustatius, or the three-hour Makana ferry. During longer layovers, take a taxi to nearby Maho Beach to watch the planes overhead at the beachside bar. The other option is flying to the international airport in St. Kitts and Nevis, and then taking either the 50-minute Makana ferry, or Golden Rock Resort’s transfer – a 45-minute speedboat from Port Zante to the St. Eustatius harbour (for a fee).
The writer was a guest of the resort. It did not review or approve the story before publication.
