THIS is not a scene from Jaws, this is Hawks Nest.

Lurking in the shallows, just metres from where two little boys played happily on the sand, was the ocean's most feared predator.

These photographs show how frighteningly close the maneater came to the shoreline at Bennetts beach, Hawks Nest, a popular tourist destination and favoured beach for thousands of people.

The incredible photos, which were taken a few weeks ago, were snapped on the same stretch of beach where wakeboarder Lisa Mondy was mauled by a great white on March 16.

Locals said that while shark sightings were not uncommon, to see them so close to the beach was rare and alarming.

"I've been swimming here for 30-odd years and I have never had a shark swimming around my knees like this," resident Peter Sherman said.

David and Tracey Lowe were at the beach the day these photos were taken and saw a 2m great white, less than 10m from the beach.

The couple, from the Central Coast, were celebrating their wedding anniversary with a weekend away on February 27 when they got the shock of their lives.

"We thought this was a good spot to go swimming and at first it looked like a shadow or something in the water," Mrs Lowe said.

"Then this wave came up and you could see the shark swimming through it. Once you got over the fear it was quite fascinating."

The couple used a digital camera to film what they have since learned was a juvenile great white as it swam in the shallows for an hour.

"There were two sharks at one point but the other one just came in close for a short while and then moved out again," Mrs Lowe said.

She said the close encounter was proof that swimmers don't need to be "way out the back on a surfboard" to be attacked by a shark.

"At one point it got caught by a wave and was rolling in the sand before it managed to swim away," she said.

Hawks Nest Surf Life Saving Club president Stephen Howell said sightings were common at this time of year because of the schools of bait fish and salmon in the area.

"You can see the bigger fish swimming right near the sharks in those photos ... that's what the sharks are after," Mr Howell said.

"In saying that, I'm not sure what sort of shark it is in those photos. It's not one I've seen around here before."

Mr Howell said the hysteria over sharks was out of control.

"You've got more chance being cleaned up in a car accident driving to Hawks Nest than you do being taken by a shark," Mr Howell said.

Originally published as Great white sharks lurk near beach