Free up yourself
Seven nights. Eight women. One ocean.
Portland, Jamaica
16–23 November 2026
Not sure yet? Take the three-minute quiz to find your retreat style.
You’ve done everything right.
The career. The family. The responsibilities you stepped up to because that’s what you do.
You take holidays, but they never quite fill you back up, and you come home more tired than when you left.
The roles that once felt like choices have started to feel like a box.
The inner pull toward something more just keeps getting louder that you can’t ignore it any longer.
Something is missing. Not a thing you can point to, but a version of yourself you’ve been putting on hold.
You keep thinking: maybe next year. Maybe when things settle. They don’t settle. You know that now.
This isn't a midlife crisis. This is a decision.
Not a retreat, a return.
Surf Soul is for the professional woman who keeps putting herself last.
Seven days in Portland, Jamaica. Eight women maximum, always. Surfing in the morning, the ocean as your teacher. Time to breathe, to be in your body, to remember what you actually want.
You will fall off the board. That is the point. At 30 you’d have just got in the water. At 50 you have to decide to. That decision – made and followed through – is the thing that travels home with you.
You’ll go home with three things
You know what you want again.
Not in a vague, 'rediscovering myself' way. You leave with a clearer sense of what excites you – and what's been draining you. That clarity doesn't disappear when you unpack.
You have proof you can do hard things.
You got in the ocean. You fell off the board. You got back on. That's not a surfing story – it's evidence. The kind that follows you home.
You stop waiting.
You booked the thing you'd been almost booking for years. That decision – made and followed through – becomes the model for every other decision you've been deferring.
You will go home different – not because the retreat changed you, but because it reminded you of who you already are.
Portland isn’t the tourist Jamaica.
No chain hotels, all-inclusive resorts or cruise ships flooding the town.
Portland, on Jamaica’s north-east coast, is where the rich and famous have always gone precisely because it doesn’t perform for visitors.
It’s a village. Lush, deliberately preserved, real.
You’ll arrive at Geejam Hotel in Port Antonio after a 2.5-hour coastal drive from Kingston.
The rainforest comes right up to the hotel building. The ocean is below. The sound of the waves reach you before you’ve unpacked.
I lived in Jamaica for seven years. I know this island from the inside. I know the beaches tourists never find, the people, and the pace of the place.
Portland is not a destination I discovered on a press trip. It is a place I came home to.
Carry the rhythm home with you
The retreat lasts seven days. What it gives you doesn't.
Most women arrive thinking they're coming for a holiday that might shift something. They leave having proved something – to themselves, quietly, without announcement.
Here is what the week actually does
In Jamaica, you fall off the board.
Again and again. Each time you get back on, you are building something that has nothing to do with surfing. The ocean doesn't care about your job title, your responsibilities, or how long it's been since you did something for the first time. It just asks you to try again. So you do.
At Home
You face the difficult conversation, the new direction, the thing you've been putting off. Not because the retreat 'transformed' you. Because you've already proved to yourself that you get back up.
In Jamaica, you move with the water.
For the first few days, you fight it. Then you stop fighting. Something loosens– in your body and then, quietly, in everything else. The ocean teaches presence in a way that no workshop ever has. You can't be somewhere else when a wave is coming.
At Home
The grip loosens. You approach your life with a little more ease and a little less management. Not because you've 'found balance.' Because you remember what it felt like to stop bracing.
In Jamaica, you surf.
You stand up on the board – even for three seconds – and something shifts. Pay attention to it. It is the moment you realise that the things you've been telling yourself you couldn't do were, in fact, stories. Not facts.
At Home
The stories get quieter. The decisions get cleaner. You are the woman who surfed in Jamaica at 50. That is not nothing.
Surf Soul REVIVE
November 16–23 2026
What the week includes
Ocean & Surf
You’ll spend your mornings in the ocean – learning to surf, wipe out, laugh, try again, and reconnect with your body through movement and play.
Whether it’s your first time on a board or your fiftieth, the experience is designed to meet you where you are.
5 group surf instruction sessions with curated local Portland instructors
All surfboard and equipment hire for the week
3 yoga and stretch recovery sessions
Rainforest & Restoration
You’ll stay at Geejam Hotel, tucked into the rainforest above the sea on Jamaica’s northeast coast.
There’s space here to slow down. To sleep deeply. To read, swim, stretch, and let your nervous system soften into a different rhythm.
7 nights accommodation at Geejam Hotel, Portland, Jamaica, with your own private Rumba Room
Daily breakfast prepared by Geejam’s chef – Jamaican, continental, or classic – your choice each morning
3 group lunches and 3 group dinners
Geejam recording studio tour – stories, music history, and the creative energy of the artists who have passed through
Culture & Connection
Surf Soul isn’t designed to keep you separated from the place you’re visiting. This retreat is deeply connected to Jamaica – its people, food, land, music, and traditions.
Midway through the week, you’ll spend a full day immersed in the island’s botanical and cultural richness.
Full-day cultural excursion to St Ann – Jacana botanical wellness farm and a harvest lunch
Curated local experiences throughout the week
Surf Soul curated welcome pack
Thoughtful Hosting
Every part of the retreat has been intentionally considered so you can settle in fully instead of managing logistics.
Surf Soul is limited to just eight women, creating space for real connection, personal attention, and a slower pace throughout the week.
Janelle Wright as your full-time host for all 7 nights
Welcome dinner and drinks on arrival evening
Private airport transfers – Kingston to Geejam and return
What’s not included
International flights to Jamaica are not included (guidance is provided)
Travel insurance is not included and is strongly recommended
Personal alcohol, additional excursions, and souvenirs are not included
Gratuity is not included
What it costs
£6,617 per person
All-inclusive as listed above · 8 spaces. Maximum. Always.
Payment plans available.
Have questions? Book a call
Geejam Hotel • Port Antonio, Portland
Geejam is not a wellness resort. It is a real place with a real history.
The hotel was built around a professional recording studio, and artists come here to make music. You might hear it. You might bump into someone interesting.
The buildings sit in the rainforest above its own private beach, with architecture that feels like it belongs to the landscape rather than being imposed on it.
Nature-inspired luxury – not pretentious, not performative – but precise, organic, and deeply connected to where it is.
You will wake to the sound of the rainforest, and fall asleep to the rhythm of the waves.
Each guest has their own private Rumba Room. Daily breakfast is included, prepared fresh each morning.
Janelle Wright
Founder, Surf Soul Retreats
I will be with you for every one of the seven nights. Not as a facilitator or a wellness guide, but as your host. The person who knows this island, curated every element of this week, and has already done the thing you're about to do.
I went to Jamaica for a funeral in 2023. First time back in 14 years. Something healed that I hadn’t planned on healing.
I went back in 2024 for myself. Learned to surf. Extended the trip because I didn’t want to leave. I was sitting on the beach reading a book called Cat Lady, laughing out loud, thinking: this is my life. Not the one I had been sleepwalking through. This one.
I lived in Jamaica for seven years. I know the island from the inside– not from a travel itinerary but from building a life there, leaving and then coming back.
Surf Soul is not a retreat I designed for other people. It is an experience I had and want to share.
I have surfed in Portugal, Senegal, Morocco and Jamaica. I have been the terrified beginner in the wrong part of the ocean and the woman laughing on the beach who didn’t want to go home. I built this retreat so you can skip the terrifying part and go straight to the laughing.
Your Questions, Answered
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None. The surf lessons are designed for absolute beginners. We start on the beach, on dry land, before we go anywhere near the water.
The instructors are patient, experienced, and know these particular waves well. You will fall off the board. That is expected and fine. Little kids do this. -
You don't need to be fit. You need to be willing.
The sessions are designed for women who have not surfed before, at a pace that works for the group. If something isn't working for your body on a particular day, you sit that session out. There is no pressure and no comparison. The ocean does not grade you. -
Surfing is the mechanism, not the point. The retreat is designed to get you into your body, out of your head, and into an experience that asks something of you.
Whether you stand up beautifully or fall off every single time, something still shifts. The women who have cried on the beach after a session were not all the ones who rode the wave. Some of them were the ones who kept getting back on the board anyway. -
Yes. Portland is one of the most peaceful parishes in Jamaica – very different from the tourist areas you may have read about.
It is quiet, lush, and deliberately off the main circuit. I lived on this island for seven years. I would not bring eight women somewhere I didn't trust completely. Geejam has its own private beach and transfers are arranged from the airport. You will not be navigating anything alone.
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You will have your own private room at Geejam Hotel – a Rumba Room. This is not a shared villa, each guest has their own space.
Daily breakfast is included, prepared fresh each morning. This is natural luxury, and the kind of quality you really taste. -
We will offer guidance to book your flights.
The drive from Kingston to Geejam is 2.5 hours on the coastal road. Your private transfer will be arranged on booking – your driver will be at the airport with your name. -
Eight women maximum. Always. I review every application personally – not to gatekeep, but because this retreat only works if the group is right for each other.
The women who come to Surf Soul are professional, curious, and have reached a point in their lives where they are choosing themselves. You will recognise each other immediately.
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Yes – and most women do. The group forms naturally.
By day two, you will have had conversations you haven't had with anyone in years. That’s just naturally what happens when eight women are removed from their usual context and put in the ocean together. -
Deposits are non-refundable once a place is confirmed.
If something changes after you've secured your place, get in touch at hello@surfsoulretreats.com and we will work through it together. Travel insurance is strongly recommended – it covers circumstances that are outside anyone's control.
The right time is a myth.
You have been saying 'one day' for long enough that you know: one day doesn't arrive on its own. It arrives when you decide.
If you recognised yourself somewhere on this page, apply. Janelle reads every application personally and will be in touch within 48 hours – regardless of the outcome.
Eight spots. Apply for REVIVE and let's find out if this is yours.