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Kaitie Ries

I'm a New York native who left my home to explore the world slowly and thoroughly. I’m just a little obsessed with photography, scuba diving, and reading guidebooks to countries I have no immediate plans to visit.
Santorini is always a good idea 🥂🌸 Having b Santorini is always a good idea 🥂🌸

Having been blessed enough to go to Santorini three times already, and with so many Greek islands burning a hole in my bucket list, I wasn’t rushing back to Santorini.

But, the whims of flight and ferry schedules meant I had to spend at least one night there en route to Ios… and so we made it two.

It only took one look out the window in the cab from the airport to remember how magical it is here.

I’ve been to a lot of places. Few feel quite like this — so beautiful as to be surreal; like you’re not even sure you can trust your eyesight.

Jetlag naps, a massage, wine tasting, and those world famous sunsets — not a bad layover indeed.

If this isn’t nice, what is?
Category is: spontaneous and potentially-ill-advis Category is: spontaneous and potentially-ill-advised-but-whatever summer trips to Greece ✨
Final memories of Florida ☀️ Yes we love our Final memories of Florida ☀️

Yes we love our yoga classes and on the dive trips, our days on the water. But it’s often the little things at @wanderwomenretreats that I think make a trip feel most special.

The welcome bags filled with hand-picked, handmade goodies from small businesses we love to support. The special tables we set with the intention to create memorable, conversation-filled meals. The nights we come home and open a bottle of wine and throw an inflatable shark around in the courtyard (lol). The quirky ideas I have while getting my eyebrows waxed and then send the team frantic voice notes about and later see come to life — for this trip, please see our @theboardbabesfl shark-cuterie board workshop, ha!

My bestie @amyjennifer.jewellery says, when you buy from a small business you support a dream. Well, I joke that at @wanderwomenretreats we try to run with the professionalism of a corporation while having the resources and team of a sole proprietorship, lolz. The truth is while we continue to grow we are still a small business, and shout out to @hotmessyoga, my right hand woman whether she’s on site with me, leading her own trip or having my back behind the scenes. We truly do send each other excited voice notes every time a booking comes in, hug with joy when we launch a new trip, and do little happy dances when we remember that despite the ups and downs, we are working our dream jobs.

My goal on these trips is to give back to the communities we visit, to support the awesome team I work with, and for every woman who comes on a trip to feel inspired, refreshed, and really vibrantly alive and connected to the people and places we meet. Sometimes that means falling asleep on my laptop writing a sales page, sometimes it means scrubbing yoga mats at sunrise, sometimes it means crying with frustration over glitches in implementing our new payment system, sometimes it means being silly and playing Heads Up all night while drinking mayyyyybe one too many local ciders with the best guests in the wooooorld 😛

Thank you to everyone who has made my dream of making other’s dreams come true — come true 💛

Most 📷: @make.it.rayna_
Proud to be a woman in diving 🫶🏼 We love ru Proud to be a woman in diving 🫶🏼

We love running a @paditv women’s dive day @wanderwomenretreats! This year our trip brought us to the rich waters of West Palm Beach, Florida.

We spent one day diving, snorkeling or freediving with sharks with @calypsodivecharters — a company with an all female team of badass shark feeders and photographers like our girl @make.it.rayna_ from @oceanraysphotography.

The next day, we were off to Blue Heron Bridge, one of the Sunshine State’s iconic dive sites for the big event! I tell ya what, walking through the parking lot of this shore entry dive just buzzing with women hauling tanks filled my heart right up! 

The dive and freedive itself was a little taster flight of all the Florida magic — seahorses, eagle rays, wrecks, bridges with wild schooling fish, and more! We were led by @make.it.rayna_ and @underseakeke, two incredible advocates for Florida waters.

I’m proud to report one of our snorkeling guests on this trip even came back to get PADI certified with Keke after 🤍 Stories like that make us to happy dances at Wander Women Retreats!

Wanna learn to dive with us? TWO spots now open in Wander Women Koh Tao in April 2023, where you’ll arrive as a total beginner and leave a certified Open Water Diver!

Already advanced? We’ve got TWO spots left on our liveaboard in Raja Ampat in March 2023! DM me or check the link in my profile for info on either!

Let me know in the comments where you think our next dive retreat should be! 💦

PS: Thanks @blueadaptation for my amazing swim set! This is the softest eco wear by yet another incredible woman-owned small business — check them out! We were super exited to work with them for this retreat!

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