Vismaya Bakshi Launches India’s First Scuba Diving Live-Aboard

Vismaya Bakshi was a passionate diver and today,  she owns and operates with her husband, India’s first ever Scuba Diving Live-Aboard Company, ” Infiniti” .

Feministaa talks to Vismaya Bakshi about her entrepreneurial Journey and the beautiful transformation of her passion into a business, which has also helped her grow as an individual. 

I had worked in New York & in India in the corporate scene for 12 years, all of which was a great experience that I learnt a lot from. But I had pretty much figured it out, and it had become a comfort zone for me. I feel it is essential to step out of your comfort zone, because that’s where your personal growth will be. Turning entrepreneurial is not easy, it wasn’t coming naturally to me after the 12 years of corporate work environments. To build something from ground up requires a lot of initiative and willingness to take a risk. We were in a place in our lives where we believed we could take that risk, we had enough experience & maturity to pull it off. Like I said earlier, the Infiniti is a husband-wife partnership, me & Sunil, we work together to create something extraordinary.

“There are not many married couples who can work together, but I believe the correct approach to a marriage is to try to make it a true partnership and together work to achieve something beyond what one might be able to do just on their own”, says Vismaya.

Vismaya wants to be the right role model for her little daughter. She wants her daughter to be truly proud of her mother. “I see that the little girls are dominated by a world of Barbie dolls and Disney Princesses .. frivolous beauty stereotypes.. I really want her to grow up knowing there’s a much bigger and more meaningful world. That’s a huge motivation for me!” , says the founder.

About Launching India’s First Scuba Diving Live- Aboard

Diving and the ocean is something she was always in love with . Vismaya loves to be close to nature and she finds diving, the most fantastic way to experience  a completely natural environment. Vismaya says, ” The ocean has this living beauty, it is full of stunning life from coral gardens to schooling colourful fish to some majestic creatures and you can get close to wildlife in a way that’s very difficult to do on land. In a wildlife park, you may “see” a tiger from a distance.. but in the ocean you can get really close to a Manta Ray or a whale shark”.

For the founder, Diving has been a long lasting love affair; and it has really changed the way one sees the world. She really wanted to give something back to diving and then she realized that her own country, India, has something amazing to offer to divers – the Andaman Islands, the Nicobar Islands, Lakshdweep islands – most of which are out of reach due to a lack of infrastructure. E.g. The Andaman Islands are a huge, vast area with some incredible attractions, but they are impossible to access without a yacht or a “live-aboard”.

Vismaya thought that she could take the initiative and make this yacht that could take divers to these remote fantastic dive sites. It was a challenge for them, as  they would have to begin by getting this yacht custom designed & built literally from sheets of steel.

And the Journey Began

It took them 18 months to get the Infiniti custom built in Thailand and once they had the vessel ready, they hit the ground running, put together a very highly qualified, very professional team of diverse skill sets such as navigation, engineering, pro divers, instructors, naturalists and hospitality.

“It’s a very unique experience – we are the only live-aboard operating in the Andaman Islands and the India touch is unique too – I know that we contribute to creating a positive impression of India to global travellers and that is another thing I am very proud of”, says Vismaya.

Indian Women Divers ? Ehh ?

They do get many women travellers, from around the world and India too. Some come with families, some with friends and several come alone by themselves. Travel in the way that makes you comfortable. The days of travelling just to see family and to sit inside playing cards all day are over. Now travel is about experiencing and learning and growing. The founder says, ” At the Infiniti, we make it a point to hire some women pro divers on our team and we try to be extra encouraging of women travellers too”.

Thank You Vismaya Bakshi for sharing your inspirational story with Feministaa. We truly believe that ” Infiniti” will reach greater heights and achieve greater success.