Theresa and Dave

Crannster

Theresa and Dave

We are world travellers who live in Northern Canada. We are both diagonally parked in a parallel universe and have a passion for the world and its amazing places and faces. We hope these blogs can be enjoyed by many like-minded people...
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"The most dangerous world views are the world views of those who have never viewed the world"
Alexander von Humboldt

"Everyone has two lives! Your second life starts when you realize that you only have one"
An Argentine couple.






North America » Canada » Nunavut August 14th 2019

It was whirlwind. What just happened? I don't fully understand how my two months in the Canadian Central Arctic vanished so quickly. How does time do that? Is time less relevant at these latitudes? Does a captivating scene speed up time? Does the solitude of silence and emptiness accelerate time? Nunavutmut tunngasugitsi - Welcome to Nunavut. The season was really vivid - the colours, the people, the exploration! Perhaps the weather had something to do with the time passing so swiftly and silently? The region was blessed with an incredibly warm, sunny and almost windless two months - many temperatures soaring into the high teens, day after day. Dry ground and low water levels meant that we were almost unlimited as to what we could do. I hiked ridges and canyons, mountains and plateaus. I ran ... read more
Bellot Strait
Xanthoria sp.
Cape Anne

North America » Canada » Nunavut June 20th 2019

“It’s $30 for a pack of smokes! How are we supposed to live with prices like that?” Lady at the store in Clyde River. The thirty dollar pack of cigarettes scenario was my introduction to this northern gem. I really loved the statement... An unexpected drive in a Jeep It was very strange to drive in a Jeep along a beach on Baffin Island. To the east lay sea-ice to the horizon, to the west - giant snowbanks lingered among the dunes. The beach, however, was clear. Our objective was to find a skull the size of a car and vertebrae the size of fuel drums from the remains of a bowhead whale that was hunted the previous summer. It was quite a sight as we approached the carnage at Cape Christian near the community of ... read more
Clyde River
Patricia Bay
My Entourage

Antarctica » Antarctica January 19th 2019

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. (1923-29) Pygoscelis papua The sun was shining over Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the local name for an eight peaked mountain range behind Jougla Point on Wienke Island. We were watching gentoos and cormorants on their nests with their newborn chicks, a beautiful sight of mid-summer Antarctica. On our way back to the Zodiac we were confronted by a boundary - a great army stood in front of us. We couldn’t get by. A line of gentoo penguins stood stubbornly in our way. I ... read more
Hardy Cove
Snow White
Antarctic Hare Grass

Oceans and Seas » Southern December 31st 2018

“The world is only tolerable because of the empty spaces in it – millions of people all crowded together, fighting and struggling, but behind them, somewhere, enormous, empty places. Man needs an empty space somewhere for the spirit to rest in.” Doris Lessing South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands... I could've categorized the blog under 'South America', but that just didn't seem right. I chose the 'Oceans and Seas' category as I thought it was more fitting. Should I be redefining continents? Why are there seven? I entered an other-worldly land of exotics. I've visited this distant entity many times, and every time I struggle to find words that adequately suit the mood. Prehistoric perhaps? A modern day 'Land the Time Forgot'. The dark skies, stormy seas, ever-blowing wind, towering peaks, dazzling glaciers, and the ... read more
Antarctic Fur Seal
The Kings
Salisbury Plain

South America » Falkland Islands » East Falkland December 20th 2018

“We are more powerful than ever before…Worse still, humans seem to be more irresponsible than ever. Self-made gods with only the laws of physics to keep us company, we are accountable to no one.” Yuval Noah Harari The Conflict The quote ‘Like two bald men fighting over a comb’ has often been used to describe the 1982 conflict in the Falkland Islands. The British prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, very quickly took defensive action after the Argentines took occupation of the small island group in the southern extreme of the Atlantic Ocean. Many lives were lost on both sides, and today the legacy survives in the memories of the locals and through the many the landmines that still lay hidden beneath the soil. I had never ventured into the interior of either of the ... read more
The Black browed albatross
The Chick
The Bonding

Antarctica » Antarctica December 17th 2018

“I find the greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as is which direction we are moving. To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor”! - Oliver Wendell Holmes The Aforementioned Penguinologists “What is your favourite memory of Antarctica?” I was asked by a curious couple from Kentucky, as we ate prime-rib with all the fixings in the dining room of M/V Ocean Endeavour. It took me a minute to respond, “There was a time on Andressen Island, south of the Antarctic Circle with, Tom and Fiona, two penguinologists.” I was their Zodiac driver and general assistant. The mission was to change batteries and do some routine maintenance to the frames ... read more
Pengun Prints.
View from my Cabin.
Humpbacks.

North America » Greenland » West Greenland September 24th 2018

"I am perfectly acquainted with the arctic, my knowledge having been acquired by thirty-three voyages to these regions, and by spending three winters there. I have become intimately associated with the Esquimaux and their habits and manners." William Penny 1809 - 1892 Nuuk. I am always surprised at how cosmopolitan Nuuk is! A city in Greenland complete with museums, malls, galleries, theatres and a brewery. The Greenlandic capital is built in a seemingly impossible fjord that twists and cuts its way inland to the ice sheet, a fjord system so complicated that map-makers must have nightmares. It’s quite astounding that there’s a functioning city in among the towering arctic peaks and wild coastline. I am only beginning to understand Nuuk (and Greenland for that matter). I am sure I once thought of Greenland as a far ... read more
Siorapaluk
Sisimiut
Exploratory site

North America » Canada » Nunavut September 15th 2018

“Across the fjord the conical mountains to the south displayed the most wonderful tints. One hill was of a dark red colour, so that, although the sky was actually clouded, it seemed as though here a flood of sunlight lingered. Nearby was a second hill which, at a distance, seemed of pale green. On the surface of the fjord there floated an iceberg, a fitting foreground to the inscrutable and snow-flecked mountains. - Seton Gordon, Amid Snowy Waters To be at sea again. To feel that cold, salty spray! We sailed through the steep sloped Sondrestrom Fjord and headed to a wild spot called Kangerlussuatsiaq, and then to the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk. These first couple of days were just a tease as the rest of the voyage had us in Canada's Arctic. The wilderness on ... read more
Devon Island Shore
Sam Ford Fjord
My entourage

North America » Canada » Nunavut August 3rd 2018

Thule "The Thule people told me that my ship was alive, and wondered what kind of animal it was. I assured them that it was not an animal - but the Thule did not believe me, as they had saw its wings move…" From William Parry’s journals as he searched for the fabled Northwest Passage. Many early accounts of the native inhabitants that lined the shores of what is now Canada’s Arctic, tell stories of ‘savages’ and ‘animals’. These primitive people lived on raw meat, lived in houses of bone and seal skins, they were hostile and spoke a language like no other language… The Thule are gone, although their modern-day descendants live on in the northern reaches of this frozen region. Scattered along the shores of Somerset Island are many Thule sites, and over the ... read more
Thule tent rings
Winter Houses at Cape Anne
Polar Bear Skull

North America » Canada » Nunavut » Resolute Bay June 30th 2018

Somewhere during my adventures I found a journey - a journey of falling in love with the polar regions, the barrenlands and the inhabitants.” Anon. The Frozen Maze The Arctic Waterways are truly spectacular from the air! Bathurst Inlet and the Kent Peninsula, Coronation Gulf and the massive Victoria Island… Peninsulas and bays, islands and frozen channels scatter in the dazzling void. There is a wilderness in the northern parts, but beyond the wilderness is an emptiness, then beyond that, is a stark bleakness and silence.. The Frozen Community Three kids (Jenny, Neil and Inooki) accompanied us on our stroll through the Northern community of Resolute. The community doesn’t get too many visitors (maybe one hundred or so per year) so it was evident that the kids wanted to engage with us. We chatted as we ... read more
Kent Peninsula
Barrow Strait
Resolute




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