The theme for this week is obviously experiencing first things, which I will explain it to you one by one.

First, I had my first live-aboard experience for four days. MantaWatch arranged a four days manta safari. We went with a small group of amazing people. The boat was very nice, even though at my third day in it I felt a little seasick. I had my own cabin, and my favorite part was the food! The food was always nicely prepared and so tasty, it was always take the hunger away after diving.

Second, and this was the most memorable of all, my very first ever night dive! At first when they asked me if I wanted to go, I felt hesitant. Because I always have anxiety every time before I dive (I don’t know why and I still couldn’t get rid of it). But thankfully I said yes, and I had a great time during that night dive although most of the time I’m always thinking: ‘don’t get lost, Dita. Try to look over everybody around you’.

Third, still about my first dive experience, my first deep dive! The water was so cold and even though I was wearing my 5 mm wet suit, I still feel so cold. But I love the dive site. It’s called The Arch. As I was explained by the dive master on the boat, it has a chair like contour with many reef fishes and corals. At first they didn’t tell me how deep we’re going to dive, so when I looked at my dive computer, I was surprised that we went until 34 m! But it wasn’t so scary because I was mesmerized by how there are so many fishes, and of course, the highlight of that dive is when we passed to a little cave. That felt amazing and I wish the cave were longer and wider so it could be like experiencing a little bit of cave diving.

Fourth, and I think this was the most challenging of all, my first English presentation about mantas. It was pretty hard for me to present something with Indonesian language, I couldn’t imagine how it goes. But to my surprise, and for the helpful advise from Andy and Laura, I did pretty well (well at least for me it did).

So to wrap things up, I had an amazing weekend, a lot of things for my head to wrap into, but in a good way though. So how’s your week? Did you experience first things like I did?

Dita grabs the attention of young and old with her great MantaWatch briefing

(This post is reproduced from Dita’s personal blog YoungerThanStrangers.com. Check it out to read the full story and see some more great photos.)