Where the Wild Things Teach:
Wonder, Play, Rest, & Aliveness
A week-long retreat in the Bahamas to Swim with Wild Dolphins
May 23 - 29, 2027
With Michelle Cassandra Johnson and Cheryl Schirillo
So much is moving through this time and space. We are living through waves of uncertainty, grief, beauty, possibility, and profound change. A retreat to the ocean is not a departure from what is unfolding around us, nor is it an escape from the realities we face. Rather, it is an invitation to return—to our deepest, vibrant essence, to the vastness of the earth, to the rhythms of the sea, to the wisdom of our bodies, and to one another.
During our week together, we will go out on a sailing catamaran Monday through Friday to swim with wild dolphins in warm, crystal-clear waters and snorkel over vibrant reefs with sea turtles, stingrays, octopus, and more. At our waterfront retreat center, we’ll gather each morning for yoga and storytelling, share nourishing meals, and create spaciousness for both reflection and delight. There will be time to laugh, to be quiet, to move, to float, and to simply listen, reconnecting with essential aspects of our true, free essence.
Registration opens on October 1, and we expect the 20 spaces to fill quickly.
Join the Interest List to be the first to register and receive an earlybird rate!
The Place
The retreat will be held at WildQuest Retreat Center on the Island of Bimini in the Bahamas, just a 25-minute plane ride from Fort Lauderdale, FL. The island is small, safe, and friendly. WildQuest is located directly on the water and just steps away from white sand beaches, often deserted, where you can swim, sunbathe, and take moonlight strolls. On the Retreat Center’s doorstep, nature treats us to a splendid sunrise every morning overlooking the bay, where our sailboat/catamaran is docked.
Registration Opens in October!
Join the Interest List to be the first to register and receive an earlybird rate!
About Your Guides
ABOUT MICHELLE
Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant and educator, and intuitive and shamanic healer. She approaches her life and work from a place of knowing that we can, and must, heal individually and collectively. She is loved and respected for her embodied approaches to racial equity work, creating ritual in justice spaces, and enlivening our divine connection with nature and Spirit so we as a culture can heal.
Michelle facilitates workshops and immersions, leads retreats and transformative experiences nationwide, and offers an array of healing services for individuals and groups. For over 25 years as a racial equity educator, she has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups.
Michelle leads courageously from the heart with compassion and a commitment to address the heartbreak dominant culture causes for many because of the harm it creates. She inspires change that allows people to stand in their humanity and wholeness in a world that fragments most of us. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees.
ABOUT CHERYL
Cheryl Schirillo led her first WildQuest retreat in 2019. She has been working with dolphins and whales in the Dreamtime since 2013 and swimming with wild dolphins in the ocean for more than a decade. After touching a Grey Whale and gazing deeply into Her eye in 2024, she felt an even deeper calling to serve as an Ambassador for the Dolphins and Whales. Cheryl is a certified Dolphin and Whale Energy Healer, initiated by the Grey Whales in Mexico, the Spotted Dolphins of Bimini, and trained by Master Healer, Anne Gordon. She is also a 600 hr Certified Wholistic Health Counselor in the yogic-healing science of Ayurveda.
Now in her 60s, from the age of 17 years old Cheryl studied with Spiritual Masters in India, Integrative-Medicine Practitioners from Duke University, Buddhist Monks, Native-American Shamans, Pacos from Peru, and Ayurveda Masters.
Cheryl believes you are an essential part of this beautiful planet and that it is possible for each of us to play a role in promoting world-wide healing for all beings.
For more information visit https://cherylschirillo.com