Bhubaneswar: Dubai-based Odia scuba diver Priyadarshee Panigrahi has completed his 100th dive in the tiger shark waters of Fuvahmulah in the Maldives, sharing the experience with his teenage daughter Tisya amid multiple large predators.
The milestone dive took place recently at the southern Maldivian island, widely recognised as one of the world’s most reliable locations for close encounters with tiger sharks. Fuvahmulah, a rare single-island atoll lying just south of the equator and surrounded by deep ocean, draws these apex predators year-round thanks to strong currents, nutrient-rich waters and a long-standing pattern of local fishermen discarding fish waste near the harbour. Dive operators and researchers have identified hundreds of individual tiger sharks at the site, often called Tiger Zoo or Tiger Harbour, with encounters frequently occurring in relatively shallow depths accessible to recreational divers.
Panigrahi, a senior corporate leader, was joined underwater by his 16-year-old daughter Tisya, an Advanced Open Water Diver. They descended to the seafloor and found themselves surrounded by tiger sharks of varying sizes, some reaching up to about 15 feet (4.5 metres) in length and weighing several hundred kilograms. Many of the animals approached within centimetres of the divers.
“I could not have imagined a better way to complete my 100th dive. To be underwater with Tisya, surrounded by tiger sharks of all sizes, was an incredibly powerful and humbling experience. Every dive has taught me something about the ocean, but this one will remain very special,” Panigrahi said.
Tisya, who became Odisha’s youngest scuba diver in 2020 at age 10 and its youngest Advanced Open Water Diver in 2022 at age 12, described the moment as both exciting and humbling. “Doing my father’s 100th dive with him was really special. We were surrounded by tiger sharks, and it was an incredible moment to see these magnificent creatures from such close quarters… I’m really happy that I could be there for such an important milestone in his diving journey.”
Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) rank among the ocean’s larger predatory species. Adults commonly measure 3–4.5 metres, with exceptional individuals approaching or exceeding 5 metres and weights of several hundred kilograms. In Fuvahmulah their presence is consistent rather than seasonal, distinguishing the island from most other dive destinations.
Panigrahi, son of the late former minister and parliamentarian Sriballav Panigrahi and educationist Sunanda Panigrahi, began scuba diving in 2012. Born in Bhubaneswar and raised in Sambalpur and Delhi, he has logged dives across multiple countries. He reached his 75th dive in the Maldives in March 2025. Tisya, on her 15th birthday in June 2025, dived to 100 feet, becoming the youngest Odia to reach that depth.
The father-daughter pair are among a small number of Indian Advanced Open Water diving duos and have also supported ocean conservation efforts. For Panigrahi, the combination of a personal milestone, family participation and one of the ocean’s most dramatic predator encounters made the 100th dive a defining moment in more than a decade of exploration beneath the waves.
