Like many of you, it’s been hard to look at my calendar each week and delete travel plans that have been postponed or cancelled. Looking ahead at this week in particular was a tough one — I was meant to be in Florida on my Wander Women Key Largo: A Dive + Yoga Sustainability Retreat as you read this. And while luckily that was a postponed plan and not a cancelled one — join us in 2021! — I knew that there had to be another way to celebrate Women’s Dive Day in style.
How about launching our next virtual retreat?! Sounds like it will do the trick! And thus, Wander Women Global: A Virtual Ocean-Inspired Retreat is live.
Our inaugural Wander Women Global this spring was everything I was desperately craving at the time — a way to keep the spirit of adventure and connectedness alive, a way to serve our community to build healthy and rewarding routines, an avenue for supporting female entrepreneurs whose careers have been impacted, and a daily invitation to move my body, quiet my mind, and learn something new. And from the overwhelming feedback we got, it was just what our participants needed, too — I left that week with my heart absolutely overflowing, guys.
And now we’re back, and I’d like to think better than ever — having incorporated all that we learned and all the loving feedback of our guests from the first round. So join me and a crew of incredible women from around the globe for a week of virtual travel inspiration, dive education, yoga flows, online workshops, new friends, and more. Soak up and make the most of summer vibes from wherever you are!
While many of us are above the surface and in one place for the time being, we’re so excited to offer the chance to gather virtually once again for some virtual splashing around.
From the comfort of your couch, you’ll take a Project Aware course, learning how to make a difference for ocean protection every time you dive or travel — no scuba certification required! You’ll make a DIY zero-waste beach blanket, make some healthy beach bites, and try your hand at water color. We’ll also bring together a panel for an important conversation on diversity in the dive industry.
And, there’s plenty more activities to plunge into! You’ll get daily yoga flows and meditations designed for all levels; journaling prompts for structured reflection during a time of summer stillness; and a community of fellow travel lovers to make new friends from across the globe!
All the inspiration, community, and feel-good vibes of a Wander Woman Retreat, from the comfort of your home.
The Details
The retreat will be held over seven days from August 15-21, 2020. The cost is $150 for new Wander Women and $100 for Wander Women guests who have attended a past retreat or have signed up for a future retreat — simply use the code “wanderlove.”
With a portion of our profits, we’ll be sponsoring dive education for a Black, Indigenous, or WOC who is looking to take their first jump into diving. We will also be gifting four retreats, one to a woman in each of the following categories: a women who’s income has been effected by the economic crisis, a healthcare worker, a primary caregiver for a loved one, and an essential worker still reporting in-person to a job that keeps the world turning. We appreciate all of y’all.
Every day of the week, you’ll receive the following from our talented collective:
• an exclusive email with inspiring writing from Alex that you won’t find anywhere else
• an original 45 minute yoga flow created to stretch your mind and body at home
• a short meditation even those new to meditation can enjoy
• a thought-provoking journaling prompt
• an educational workshop from an expert in diving, sustainability, nutrition, art, and more
• a curated happy hour cocktail recipe from an expert mixologist, based on the seven seas
• …and more!
You’ll also receive access to a private Facebook group with Alex, our workshop hosts, and all of the other attendees to connect with each other and discuss the day’s activities. While global restrictions may make it harder to meet new friends IRL, this is a fun way to meet them digitally! We’ll also gift you a virtual welcome bag full of discount codes, downloads, and gifts-with-purchase from our friends and sponsors.
As we always encourage, you can make this Wander Women Retreat your own. Busy day at work? Focus your energy on a relaxing yoga class + meditation and skip the workshop for the day. You’ll have access to the materials for thirty days afterwards, so you can craft your retreat based on what works best for you! While some workshops will be live Zoom get-togethers, we can send you the recordings after if it doesn’t work with your time zone or schedule that day.
What’s Not Included
While we’d love to send you a physical box of Wander Women goodies, due to the global nature of the attendees, we’re saving the confetti and treats for when we can all be together again in person. Additionally, some of the activities will include minimal supplies, which you can purchase to your level of comfort and accessibility — our workshop hosts have created plenty of modifications to suit everyone! You will receive a final shopping list at least one week before the start of the retreat.
The retreat fee covers participation in the Project Aware course but not the official certification through PADI, which is optional. The additional fee for the specialty certification card will be $27.
Exclusive Emails Straight to Your Inbox
The theme of each day will be introduced in the daily email from Alex, sharing thoughts, stories and sentiments that you won’t find elsewhere. If you love reading Alex in Wanderland posts, you’ll love these inspiring daily emails.
Each day, you’ll be sent a thought-provoking journaling prompt designed to help you reflect and record this unique moment in history. If you’d like, you can share your takeaways with the other Wander Women on the Facebook group, or keep it private. Many of our past participants ranked this as a favorite aspect of the retreat!
Yoga + Meditations
You’ll be enjoying daily flows with our yogi-in-residence, Alexandra Baackes. Alex is a RYT 200 Registered Yoga Teacher, a Buti Bands and Sculpt instructor, and a regular yoga practitioner for over a decade. She has a passion for creative sequencing, building badass playlists, and disproving the idea that one can be “bad” at yoga.
The classes will be accessible to all levels, and include a variety of styles including vinyasa, yin, sculpt, and beyond.
Happy Hour
Due to popular demand, we’re bringing back what previous Wander Women Virtual guests called the best part of their week — our award-winning professional bartender Amy Koffsky, who’s designing a daily cocktail based on the seven seas!
Beloved not only by previous guests, but also anyone who has tuned into TV’s Bar Rescue, Amy will be shaking and stirring up daily cocktails (with mocktail modifications!) that you can follow along with at home. Ahead of the retreat, you’ll be sent a shopping list, and then each day Amy will tune in to share some cocktail theory + methods, making your early evening drink not just delicious but educational!
Daily Escape
Dive into a daily workshop with a full stack of honorary Wander Women hosts from the globe. Each workshop will start with an introduction by Alex before handing it over to the experts.
Day One: We’ll kick off the week of fun activities + bonding with a Zoom party. After a warm welcome from Alex, we’ll break off into smaller rooms with conversation topics so you can meet your fellow guests — hopefully meeting a future dive buddy or travel friend for when we can jump back on the road!
Day Two: Today’s all about a relaxing crafternoon! Wander Women resident artist Lauren Stegeman of Green Blanky Studio will get your creativity flowing — even if you were a reluctant participant in art class. In theme with the retreat, we’ll be creating watercolor homages to our favorite beachside destinations.
Day Three: Today we gather with Shayna Cohen of The Sea Hugger, dive instructor and devout ocean conservationist, for a digital Project Aware workshop. The Project Aware course is all about ocean conservation and learning how you can make a difference for ocean protection every time you dive or travel. A dry, ‘fins off’ course, this specialty is ideal for divers and nondivers alike to gain insight into how decisions above and below the surface impact our water planet.
Day Four: Sustainability is a core theme in all of our retreats — and today we’re learning from Zero Waste blogger Suzanne Khan of Naked Zero. She’ll lead us through a sustainable tie-dye session where we’ll be making gorgeous tie-dye beach blankets from avocado pits! As a sustainability expert Suzanne will also share some of her go-to reef safe + plastic free product switches to get you inspired.
Day Five: Today we’re sparking conversation on the dive industry with a panel of badass women divers! Let’s gather for a chat with notable industry leaders like Sarah Richards, founder of Girls that Scuba, and Inka Cresswell, a filmmaker and marine biologist, and more to talk through diversity and the future of the dive industry.
Day Six: Time to head into the kitchen for a workshop on making to-go energy beach bites (for an afternoon in the sun, whether that’s just your backyard or further afield!) Janine O’Donnell of Living Juices, our signature Koh Tao Retreat breakfast queen, will be instructing you how to make delicious and healthy snacks to take on all your summer adventures.
Day Seven: If you’ve ever joined us for a previous Wander Women Retreat, you’ll know we’re all about structured reflection! We’ll close out our week of above ground ocean fun with a Zoom happy hour, gathering for a final time as a group with your new friends. It’s not goodbye, just see you later — the Facebook group will stay up so you can continue chatting and connecting.
Praise for Wander Women
The virtual Wander Women Retreat was such a breath of fresh air during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was an incredible week of full of introspection, yoga, new friendship connections and finding joy in new skills and new experiences – proving that the joy many of us find in travel can be found at home, as well. Alex and her team did an amazing job keeping everyone connected and the activities flowing (from meditation classes to live happy hours) that if I closed my eyes, I truly felt like I was on a tropical island somewhere with a bunch of new best friends.
Join Us
We’re getting this party started in just a few weeks! This virtual retreat starts on August 15th, 2020. Want the IRL experience? We hear you, us too — sign up for our newsletter or email us to enroll for future destination retreats.
Once payment is complete, you’ll receive a confirmation email with intake form and an invite to a private Facebook group for your trip. We’ll send over full scheduling and details, and help you with any questions!
F.A.Q.
Do I need to be a diver to participate in this retreat?
Absolutely not! There’s no actual scuba diving involved 🙂 All you need to enjoy is a love for or interest in our planet’s gorgeous oceans + beaches!
I still have a strict work schedule. Will I be able to participate?
Yes! We’ll make the webinars accessible to watch at any time of day, whatever works for you, no matter your time zone. Any participation in the activities is up to you!
How else can we support?
We are so touched by all your inquiries about how to support our small business during this time, and how to support our own charitable endeavors. If you want to add on to our donation to charity, shoot us an email and we can coordinate. You can also help out the Wander Women crew by gifting this retreat or purchasing gift cards for others!
Will this sell out?
No, we’ll offer it to as many travel lovers to join! We hope you’ll be one of them.
I still have more questions, or cute photos of my dog. Who do I contact about that?
Um, yes please! Our email is retreats@alexinwanderland.com.
