Hawaii Vegan Retreat

Aloha

This past week was my first-ever visit to Hawaii! An opportunity arose that I couldn’t ignore so I tied up loose ends at work and overpacked for my 6-hour flight (with 1 transfer) to The Big Island. I was invited to attend a Vegan Retreat hosted by Noah Hyams of Vegpreneur and Gaby Aziz of Heart Core Hotels. The retreat was held at Heart Core Hotels’ Volcano Eco Retreat in Hilo.

Hotel & Kau Kau (Food)

Heart Core Hotels are a collection of boutique eco hotels. All of the materials used on the property from building materials to the bath and body products provided are completely vegan, eco-friendly, and sustainable. Plus every meal served is plant-based! The Volcano Eco Retreat even has produce and herbs growing on the property, and they harvest and filter rainwater for use on-site. I had my own personal bungalow complete with a Lanai seating area. Aside from the bungalows, the property also hosts a main house with a kitchen, outdoor dining table, hot tub, lounge chairs, hammock, and covered lounge area.

Noah and Gaby planned a full itinerary of activities for each day, and while we were out on the first day, plant-based chef “Hollan Hawaii” flew over from Kauai to cook the remainder of our meals. Gaby started off the retreat with a vegan tapas dinner and cocktails crafted with some ingredients foraged on the property. Then Hollan gave us a rainbow spring roll demo, baked fresh bread with vegetable lasagna, and showed us how easy it is to make an egg replacement with pepitas (pumpkin seeds). All of our dishes were whole-food, plant-based, and we left with the recipes for anything we’d like to try again- I’m looking at you chickpea avocado toast!

Day 1

When we weren’t loading up on vegan eats, we were exploring all of the nature The Big Island has to offer. The first day we stopped at Wailuku River’s Rainbow Falls, where two waterfalls meet and form a rainbow. Then we briefly explored Kaumana Cave, which is located in the jungle next to flocks of wild chickens. (Did you know chickens live wild and free in Hawaii? At some point humans brought a chicken to the islands and due to there being no natural predators for them in the jungle, they thrive!) Akaka Falls was next on our list and damn, were there a lot of stairs. This is when my health started to deteriorate and I was pretty sure I was suffering from heat exhaustion. Nevertheless, I made it to the top of the Pali (cliff) to see the beauty of the Akaka Falls waterfall. We rounded out the adventuring with a surprise visit to Krishna Cow Sanctuary, a cow sanctuary that offers cow cuddling! Krishna Cow Sanctuary rescues steers, bulls, calves, and mama cows from all over and allows them to live out their lives cruelty-free. The cows were so sweet, and loved to cuddle!

Day 2

On the second day, we headed to Volcanoes National Park. The weather was being finicky so we hopped around the park visiting the Kilauea Military Camp with a tiny bowling alley (I think there were 3-4 lanes), and the Steam Vents and Sulphur Banks where water is vaporized by magma underground, returning to the surface as steam! (The vents are where we left our offerings for Pele the Hawaiian Goddess of Volcanoes) Next, we hiked near the Hoeli Sea Arch, a lava rock formation that for some reason reminds me of “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. Before our picnic lunch, we visited the Thurstan Lava Tube. This is a tube-shaped cave that was created when lava once flowed in the area but has been inactive for over 500 years. The last stop before heading back to our bungalows was Punalu’u- Black Sand Beach. This is one of the coolest destinations of all time. The sand on the beach is completely black due to the volcanic ash in the ocean (#gothbeach). Not only that, but this beach is where Honu (sea turtles) come to relax. They have their own fenced-in area where they know to stay, and simply swim up for a nap and then back into the ocean they go! The sea turtles are massive like tortoises, and most were as inactive as the lava tube from earlier (#same).

This retreat was unforgettable. I want to visit Hawaii again someday. It is a beautiful and special place. Gaby has a knack for hosting and guiding tours, so I am sure we will see more of this from her in the future and I can’t wait! I get overwhelming anxiety and suffer panic attacks when I travel, so I am so proud of myself for not only doing this but doing this alone. Even if I did it nauseous, even if I did it crying, I did it! Aloha!

Interested in the next retreat? Stay tuned to my Instagram for more details on the September Vegan Business Retreat hosted at the Heart Core Hotels’ Palm Springs location. It is bound to be a great time, and I think Hollan will be returning as the chef!

Planning to visit Hilo? Visit Heart Core Hotels’ Blog on places with vegan eats, traveling and visiting sustainably, top places to explore, and more!

Want to eat like we did on the retreat? Hollan just released a new cookbook called “Divorce Your Diet”. You can order it on Amazon here. Not enough? Order her full-size cookbook “Good Food Gratitude” including her famed vegetable lasagna recipe here.

For more from me, see the videos posted to TikTok and Instagram from our retreat.