WELCOME TO TERRAPIN TRAILS
Welcome! I’m Julie. Thanks for stopping by! Tony and I have been sailing through the seasons of life together; literally and figuratively. Terrapin Trails is where I share stories and reflections of our adventures, many involve sailing, to inspire you to embrace an adventure lifestyle. Let’s Go!
Cruising Lake Ontario’s North Shore And The 1,000 Islands
Some of our stops during a big trip serve as an overnight and others we…
Jordan Comes to Toronto
We were barely out of our slip when Tony noticed the water wasn’t spitting out…
Lake Ontario Here We Come!
Lake Erie to Lake Ontario Via The Welland Canal Sailing Milestones A big milestone was…
Another Grandson Trip in Erie, PA
This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through a link below, I may earn a…
Grandsons Come To Erie, PA
We chose Erie, PA for our grandson’s trips because depending on the weather conditions, we…
Luke and Christie’s Family Boat Trip; Sandusky, July 2025
Choosing A Location Our first major destination this summer was to get to Sandusky for…
Leaving the Dock; Sandusky Here We Come!
Start of Summer 2025 We Left Rogers City, MI June 10th with the destination of…
Prep for Summer Sailing 2025
Balancing Family Connections and Boat Prep The month of May brought a scheduling puzzle of…
Cruising The North Channel
Sailing in the North Channel filled us with awe and wonder at the geology and…
Celebrating Our Anniversary In Sault Ste Marie
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Sault Ste Marie?For us,…
Sailing Lake Superior’s South Shore
“Take 2” to leave on our sailing trip was a success! After months of…
Throw Off The Bowlines
After months of boat projects and a couple of shakedown trips, it was time to…
Shakedown Trip With Teens
Let’s go on another shakedown trip, this time with teens! Similar and Different This shakedown…
Shakedown Trip With Grandsons
After months of working on boat projects, it was time for some shake-down trips in…
Family Trip to Bayfield
Family planned to come sailing for the weekend, but as we all know, “we can’t…
Boat Projects; Here We Go Again!
We weren’t looking for a refit project when we bought our boat, but here we…
A Boat Name
We were beginning to think we might name our sailboat Mystery because coming up with…
Sailing In The Grenadines!
After being at dock for many months during hurricane season, there’s plenty to do before…
Grenada: Beyond The Marina
We see why Grenada is a popular spot for Caribbean cruisers to spend the hurricane…
Grenada Foods: Spices, Chocolate, and More
Do you know that Grenada is often referred to as “The Spice Island”? Nutmeg, cinnamon,…
Petsitting: A Staycation For Crew
They call this pet sitting, but I call it a staycation. Of course, I miss…
Boat Shopping and A Decision
We’ve been on a merry-go-round of indecision for our next boat for too long. …
Nova Scotia Spontaneous Vacation
We planned a trip to Nova Scotia with the intention of buying a boat, but…
A Floating Retreat
Our pet sitting and sailing trip with friends on SV Black River ended up being…
Exploring Lisbon
We explore a new place by taking a lot of walkabouts, using public transportation, and…
Sailing School In The Canaries
We stepped outside of our comfort zone and took some sailing school courses in the…
Replotting Our Course After Ian
How do you respond when things don’t go as planned? We floundered in how to…
Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Ian totaled our sailboat Terrapin. The realization is slowly sinking in. We’re doing…
Annapolis Boat Show
Can you believe we’ve been sailing most of our married life and never went to…
Hiking On A Road Trip
Some road trips require getting from point A to point B on the fastest route. …
Sailing The Exumas: Shroud Cay
Our highlight at Shroud Cay was what we call a “Disneyworld-like” excursion in our dinghy…
Crossing the Bahama Banks to the Exumas!
It sure feels good to be on the move again! We have a few longer…
Two Weeks In Bimini
Being “stuck” in Bimini due to weather brought plenty of silver linings. We learned to…
Sailing To Bimini
Traveling internationally during Covid can be difficult, even more so when voyaging on a sailboat. Will…
Improvise, Alien Space Ship, Crab Traps, Oh my!
Sailing passage with improvising, an alien space ship?, and catching crab traps, oh my! …
Finding Adventure On A Familiar Route
We’re always eager to find new adventures wherever we are, even in a familiar place! …
A Cruiser’s Plans Are Written In Sand At Low Tide
Our plan is to continue to enjoy the sailing lifestyle in all its varieties. That…
Stormy Adventure
Winter Solstice Storm What were you doing on the morning of the winter solstice, Dec…
Sailing With Teens
On the bow with the wind on her face, the sounds of waves splashing against…
Spring Break Family Sailing Trip
Sailing with our kids & grandkids aboard always brings an extra dose of joy to…
Our First Father’s Day Without Our Dads
My Dad “I’m just a kid!” he’d often say, as we playfully went about our…
10 family games that are small in size, but big in fun!
Looking for a game that provides hours of family fun, yet fits in a small…
Celebrating My 60th Birthday During COVID
One thing the pandemic is teaching everyone is to be flexible with our plans and…
Terrapin Drawings By Family Artists
What’s your favorite part about being an artist? “Creating something beautiful!” “”I get to put…
How Sailing With My Grandparents Has Impacted Me
sailing with my grandparents has strengthened my relationship with them, helped me develop skills for…
COVID-19 And Living With Alzheimer’s; Unprecedented X2
My parents were already dealing with one type of “unprecedented” lifestyle with Alzheimer’s, adding in…
Projects On S/V Terrapin; Our Good Old Boat
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”…
Conversation Snippets From Our Crew
Listen in to conversation snippets onboard Terrapin. Here are a few of the things heard…
Our Sailboats Through The Seasons Of Life
Our Sailboats Through The Seasons Of Life. We changed boats and sailing grounds depending on…
The Time I Got Boarded By The U.S. Coast Guard
On one of our crossings from the Bahamas to Florida, our family got boarded by…
Sailing Trip To The Dry Tortugas
Our grandson Travis spent three weeks sailing with us in the Florida keys during his…