Rosemary Dunn Moeller grew up devouring books by Thor Hyerdahl, Tim Severin, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Herman Melville, and others whose reports of life at sea bested novels and films.

In Northwest Africa, she met her future husband, Lester (a South Dakota farm boy), and when they saw their first wild penguin on a trip to the Galapagos Islands, she knew she simply had to see more wild penguins, so she set her sights on Antarctica.

Once there, she became immersed in the beauty and fragility of the coldest, least populated continent on earth. She saw glaciers, whales, penguins,...

Rosemary Dunn Moeller grew up devouring books by Thor Hyerdahl, Tim Severin, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Herman Melville, and others whose reports of life at sea bested novels and films.

In Northwest Africa, she met her future husband, Lester (a South Dakota farm boy), and when they saw their first wild penguin on a trip to the Galapagos Islands, she knew she simply had to see more wild penguins, so she set her sights on Antarctica.

Once there, she became immersed in the beauty and fragility of the coldest, least populated continent on earth. She saw glaciers, whales, penguins,...