Nicknamed ‘Moana’, Charlene Erasito is the only female Pacific Islander on the expedition to document unexplored parts of the ocean

On the island of Rotuma in Fiji, Christmas is a time of joy, a celebration bursting with song, dance and laughter. Charlene Erasito remembers watching the festivities there when she was a child, captivated as people paraded through the village for “fara,” a local Christmas celebration.

Erasito never imagined that decades later, she would return to the same shores, no longer as a spectator but as a scientist. Erasito, now 30 years old, is the only female Pacific Islander aboard an ambitious expedition seeking to document unexplored ocean ecosystems in Fijian waters.