A diver says he sighted a large shark swimming in shallow waters at Kingston Beach

UPDATED: A Hobart diver has described the adrenaline-pumping encounter he experienced with a great white shark at Kingston Beach.

Kingston Beach, the site of a shark sighting. Picture: SUPPLIED

UPDATED: A HOBART diver who came face-to-face with a three-metre great white shark at a popular swimming beach has detailed how the shock encounter unfolded.

Geoff Smith, 26, said he had just finished work when he decided to go diving at the northern end of Kingston Beach where the sighting occurred about 4pm yesterday.

Mr Smith a recreational diver, who hits the water 2-3 times a week, said he got “the biggest adrenaline dump of my life” when he turned and saw the shark about four metres from shore.

“I was scanning the sea floor and looked up and, there, clear as day was a three-metre great white adjacent to me about eight metres away,” he said.

“I’ve watched countless stuff online about what to do in that situation, but all that went out the door and I just swam as fast as I could to shore.

“I was in such a panicked state that I called my dad and he told me to hang up and calm my emotions. Dad then called the police, which followed with a police alert about the shark.”

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Despite the encounter, Mr Smith said it wouldn’t deter him from diving at the same spot again.

He said it had taught him to stop diving alone.

Mr Smith said he was disappointed to learn that notification of his shark sighting in a local spearfishing Facebook group had been mocked as a hoax by some online users.

A beachgoer there at the time of the sighting told the Mercury police crews arrived and instructed people to get off the beach.

It comes after Tasmania Police last week posted a warning on its Facebook page saying a shark had been spotted at Denison Beach at Douglas River, north of Bicheno.

EARLIER: A LARGE shark has been sighted swimming in shallow waters off Kingston Beach.

In a brief statement about 4.50pm on Thursday afternoon Tasmania Police said a diver had spotted a large white shark swimming about four metres from shore at Kingston Beach “a short time ago”.

Police are in attendance and have advised swimmers to leave the water as a precaution.

It comes after Tasmania Police last week posted a warning on its Facebook page saying a shark had been spotted at Denison Beach at Douglas River, north of Bicheno.

The stranded pilot whale that was seen at Kingston Beach has washed up dead on Fort Beach, South Arm. DPITWE officers are pictured removing the animal from the beach and it is understood it will have a post mortem in the department's Taroona offices. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

Beachgoers at Kingston Beach last year reported shock at the sight of a pilot whale that became stranded there in early December.

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