"It's a bit more challenging here, with the environment. Warm water diving can be boring, because it can get very repetitive. We get little windows of weather to see remote places that you can't get at every year. It's as good as the reefs in terms of being colourful and diverse."

The Irish coastline, he says, is "pretty much untouched" and Charlie says it's a great thrill to dive sites that no one else might have ever seen.

"It's a great feeling and it endears you to show people as well. Lots of people are dying to get out to those places." His favourite place to dive is New Quay off the coast of Co. Clare.

Charlie set up his diving school, Galway Dive School, almost seven years ago after qualifying as a diving instructor with Ocean Divers in Dublin. He was also instrumental in setting up the Galway Diving Club.

Along with nine others, Charlie has just completed what he believes is the pinnacle of his diving career; training as an instructor of disabled divers with Fraser Bathgate, a celebrated Scottish diver who became paraplegic as a result of a mountaineering accident.

"To see the liberation from gravity, especially with wheelchair-bound people, is incredible," says Charlie. The International Association for Handicapped Divers (IAHD) is the world leader in teaching people with disabilities, and Charlie is clearly proud to be an accredited teacher.

Charlie runs week-long or weekend courses all summer, and is contactable at 085-2626957 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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