Highly trained members of the ocean-savvy search and rescue team, based at Moruya Airport, are among South Coast residents gearing up for the annual onslaught of out-of-towners as the work year winds down and temperatures heat up.

Crew chief and South Coast base manager John Costin said now was the time for Canberrans to prepare for their holiday to reduce their risk of getting into danger.

"I would impress on everyone check the conditions, check your safety equipment and make sure you've got your life jackets and personal flotation devices, your mobile phone and tell someone where you're going.

"All this basic stuff that tends to get forgotten in the excitement and mayhem of holidays that's still really important."

The distinctive red and yellow helicopter will patrol the coast daily during the school holiday period, scouring busy stretches like Broulee and Narooma for rock fishermen, kayakers or surfers in trouble, or boaters tipped from overturned vessels.

Mr Costin said many relaxed holiday-goers entered the "bulletproof zone" and undermined the dangers of waterways.

"Some of the things we have to do, we just shake our heads and say, 'What were you thinking?'"

A lot of staying safe was down to common sense, he said, like teaching children to swim, taking safety precautions, swimming on patrolled beaches and knowing your limitations in the surf.

Mr Costin urged visitors to invest in simple safety equipment, such as personal flotation devices, that were readily available for $50 to $100 and were often "the difference between living and dying".

"We want to be there to save you, we don't want to pick you up when you're deceased."

Tourists could expect unseasonably warm water temperatures that had hovered about 20 degrees and strong north-easterly winds in the afternoons.

"Plan your offshore boating activities around the morning, fishing's better in the morning anyway, so you've had your fish, the wind's stayed down generally and try to get in by lunchtime," Mr Costin said.

A birds-eye view from the helicopter also gave the crew an ideal vantage spot to track sharks and while they carried out patrols on request, Mr Costin stressed it wasn't the team's main focus.

While there had been a rash of shark attacks on the NSW North Coast in the past year, Mr Costin said similar incidents on the south were rare.

"Have a look at the statistics, it's more dangerous driving down here to go for a swim than it is to actually get in the water, provided you don't go at dusk and dawn on cloudy days by yourself and bob around the back on a surfboard and look like a seal."

Mr Costin said the quiet communities dotted along the coast were accustomed to the annual spike in population.

"Without tourism, this place doesn't exist, and it forms a huge part of all the traders' takings for the year. That six-week period is absolutely critical for the long-term future of the town.

"So people need to embrace it and let them have a good time here."

Surf the Bay part-owner Glenn Hall said staff at the business were gearing up for about eight weeks of back-to-back surf lessons that intensified from Boxing Day.

"You've got to make hay while the sun shines," he said.