About us
The Story Behind Turtle Totes
Hi there, I’m Terry Axford, the founder of Turtle Totes — and I want to tell you how it all started. Because for me, Turtle Totes isn’t just a business. It’s personal. It’s a journey. It’s a love letter to the ocean.
I grew up near lakes in Canada. When I was 12 years old, my girlfriend brought me two pieces of coral after visiting the sea. I remember feeling amazed… and jealous. She had seen the ocean — something I had only dreamed about. Even back then, the ocean was calling me.
At 20, I decided to follow that call and travel to Australia. That’s where I saw the ocean for the very first time — and I felt something shift inside me. I felt home. After that, nothing was ever quite the same.
A few years later, I found myself in New Zealand, surrounded by even more ocean — and I knew I couldn’t leave. I stayed. Fifteen years ago, I finally moved to the beach, and I’ve built a life around the water ever since. I’m now a free diver, a spearfisher, and a sponsor of reef ecology programs that remove invasive species and help protect marine ecosystems.
So how does all of this connect to Turtle Totes?
In 2024, I took a trip with my daughter to Komodo Island for her birthday. We swam with manta rays and even had a close encounter with a huge, majestic turtle. But when we surfaced, we were hit with a different kind of reality — the shoreline was littered with plastic bottles, even though we were in a marine reserve. It was heartbreaking.
I saw clearly that the ocean — which I think of as one big, living body — is being polluted from all corners of the world. Even in the most remote and beautiful places, plastic waste is showing up. And it’s hurting the creatures that live there.
I knew I had to do something. Something beautiful, functional, and positive.