"Antarctic Journal"
by Jennifer Owings Dewey

Student Edition
Unit 5, pp. 586–601

A journal is a record of thoughts and events that are important to the writer. Think about what is important to Jennifer Owings Dewey as you read entries from the journal she kept in Antarctica.

November 12. Depart from home. We will spend four months in Antarctica at Palmer Station. Antarctica is at the bottom of the world. It is the fifth largest continent. And it is the most forbidding place on Earth. As our plane heaves up, I think "See you later, America!"
November 17. Landed at the southern tip of Chile. We got special Antarctic clothing. We will return it when we get back. The ship we are taking is very tiny! My cabin has a desk and chair. A sleeping bag covers the bed. We left this morning. I love looking out at the sea and the huge seabirds. The sun does not go down. It just gets to the horizon where it stays for a while. Then it comes up again. I am filled with anticipation. After two days, we crossed the Antarctic Convergence. This is where the cold water from the south meets the warm water from the north. Now we are in Antarctica.
Later the ship stops moving. I can see humpback whales jumping and playing. A crew member tells me the ship always stops to let the whales pass. I like that.
November 18. We arrive at Palmer Station. It is on an island, but you can't tell. Ice is between the island and the mainland. We learn the rules. We cannot go out alone except to climb a glacier behind Palmer. There are poles stuck in the ice to show the safest way. We have to sign out whenever we leave. Every hour we have to use our walkie-talkies to check in. We must use special sunscreen all the time.
December 15. I went to an abandoned research camp with a penguin scientist. Gentoo penguins now live there. Some built stone nests on top of old oil drums. The chicks look just like their parents. They all have orange spots on their bills. It was 32 degrees. That's too hot for penguins. They can have heat stroke! On the way back we saw two orcas grab penguins with their mouths and dash through the water with them. This is the real wilderness! I'm tired, but it's hard to sleep because it is never dark.
December 24. It is Christmas Eve. I couldn't sleep, so I signed out and took the trail up the glacier. Near the top I heard a terrifying sound. There was a crack! I fell into it, up to my shoulders. I'm alive only because it was narrow. It took an hour to wriggle out. When I looked down, I saw more cracks. I crawled down on my hands and knees. When I got back to Palmer, I told the station manager about the cracks. He went up the glacier to reset the safety markers.
February 16. We went on a short boat trip and saw icebergs. We did not get close. Most of an iceberg is under the water. That makes them dangerous. But penguins and seals ride along on icebergs. I'd love to do that too!
March 12. I'm on the way home. I was allowed to take a penguin egg that the scientist knew would not hatch. I had to give away a lot of my own clothes so there was room in my suitcase for the egg. It will remind me of my trip to Earth's last great wilderness.

From Antarctic Journal: Four Months at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Owings Dewey. Copyright © 2001 by Jennifer Owings Dewey. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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