The problem is, you have to be able to breathe underwater to enjoy them.

Charlie is a master scuba diver trainer for Batemans Bay Dive Adventures (BBDA).

While the south coast is famous for idyllic beaches, rugged rock outcrops and glittering blue oceans, Charlie said most visitors - and even locals - couldn't comprehend the splendour of the "other-worldly" underwater landscapes he explored.

"We have some of the best temperate water reef systems on the east coast of Australia and nobody knows about it," he said.

He uses every available weekend to explore the underwater world he loves - sometimes to depths more than 100 metres down.

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"You can do the same dive week after week and they will be something different every dive," he said.

"It is an unnaturally beautiful world packed with life."

However, Charlie hasn't always loved scuba diving, and thought he would never take up the hobby.

It was because he grew up shark fishing.

"I always thought there was no way you would find me diving," he said. "I know what's out there."

When a friend paid for his first open water scuba course, Charlie caved in, and gave it a go.

His first dive was at Guerilla Bay more than 27 years ago, then his second at the caves off South Broulee Beach.

While he loved the beauty of the oceans, the sharks he grew up catching still lurked in the shadows of his mind.

On a dive off the Tollgate Islands in Batemans Bay, Charlie was hesitant to enter the water. Just months earlier, he had caught a Mako shark in the area. When he resisted, he was pushed in - "you could do that back then," he said.

The issue of sharks came to a head during a dive trip to Dragon Rock. Charlie was unfamiliar with the area, but the place names sounded impressive: Dragon Rock, Stairway to Heaven, the Colosseum. Charlie was loving exploring the landmarks, until he looked up and saw 25 sharks lining what is known as the shark gutter.

"I went through a lot of air that day," he said.

However, the ordeal curbed the fear, and opened a world of opportunities under water.

"Once you've seen a shark, you've seen a shark," he said. "You don't worry about that anymore.

"I relax underwater. My stress levels go away. All my worries go away."

The water has become his happy place since then, and he has spent nearly every weekend since exploring new dive sites, examining unfamiliar life species and taking photos.

Charlie is particularly fascinated by a group of bright coloured molluscs known as nudibranchs. There are currently more than 3000 different species of nudibranch. He wants to find a new species.

"I've been trying to get one named after me for 20 years," he said.

The walls of his BBDA office are lined with bright photos of the alien-like nudibranchs, all different, luminescent colours.

Charlie is an avid underwater photographer.

He has been taking a photo of a certain gorgonian sea fan off Mosquito Bay every year for 20 years. He's watched it quadruple in size.

The water and aquatic creatures have changed a lot in the almost 30 years Charlie has been watching.

He said the introduction of marine parks had an incredible impact upon the marine life, providing a safe place for species to grow, mature and, when the time was right, depart.

He hopes to see greater emphasis placed on the aquatic life along the south coast, with boats sunk as future treasures to explore, and the protection of the species he loves to see - and those he hasn't yet found.