Swimmer spots great white shark in shallow water near pier

A swimmer has described the terrifying moment he came within metres of a great white shark.

A swimmer has described his close call with a great white shark in shallow water in Lorne.

The sighting sparked panic for John Mantesso, who was swimming with his friend Declan Murphy near Lorne Pier about 9.45am on Sunday.

John Mantesso and friend Declan Murphy had an encounter with a White pointer Lorne Pier.

The 66-year-old said they were about 80m offshore when the shark came within four metres of them.

He said he could hear people shouting from the pier that there was a shark behind them.

“We hightailed it into the rocks as soon as we realised,” he said.

“There were people yelling out, screaming out ‘shark’. It was pretty scary stuff.”

Mr Mantesso said he couldn’t quite believe what he had seen.

“The water was pretty clear and my first instinct was that it was seaweed, then I saw the fin and I realised it was a bloody shark. It was huge, maybe three to four metres, definitely a white pointer.”

Mr Mantesso said they quickly turned around and swam back toward the shore.

The pair were doing the 1.2km Pier to Pub route.

He said he had done the race 19 times and been swimming at that same spot for more than 30 years and it was the first time he had seen a shark.

“It’s a one in a million chance, so I could do it another million times and not see a shark. I must admit I’ll be a bit nervous for a while. I was pretty shook up.”

Life Saving Victoria said they were aware of an unconfirmed sighting at Lorne and the beach remained open.

Originally published as Swimmer spots great white shark in shallow water near pier