A diver is lucky to be alive after he was pinned to the ocean floor by a Great White Shark off the coast in Perth’s northern suburbs. . Picture: 7 NEWS

A quick thinking diver has lived to tell the tale of his encounter with a Great White Shark off the coast of Western Australia

Tanveer Dhillon was diving off Ocean Reef on Sunday when he suddenly felt a nudge from behind.

“My first instinct was ‘why is my dive buddy kicking me?’ so I turned around and when I saw that it was not a person, it was a shark, it was sheer panic,” Mr Dhillon said.

To his horror it was a shark that had rammed him into a sandbank.

Tanveer quickly looked for refuge, wedging himself underneath a ledge to hide from the shark.

Tanveer Dhillon was diving off Ocean Reef on Sunday when a shark began circling him and rammed him into a sandbank. Picture: 7 NEWS

The shark circled him for 10 minutes, with his air tank depleting, the shark took one last look.

“I could see the great white grinning straight at me — my heart was in my mouth and now that memory is forever etched in my mind and I still feel the shivers when I see that moment,” Mr Dhillon said to 7NEWS.

When the shark was finally out of sight, Mr Dhillon called his dive mates, urging them to swim to the safety of their boat.

The close call hasn’t put Mr Dhillon off his love for diving, but he has admitted he is counting his lucky stars after the ordeal.

“This is the shark’s territory and we are just visitors over there and understanding that we have to be mindful of that.”

Tanveer Dhillon hopes divers can learn from his quick thinking. Picture: 7 NEWS

Mr Dhillon hopes that his story will educate other divers that remaining calm and collected during a crisis is they key.

“If I would have done the knee jerk reaction and gone straight for the surface I feel fairly confident he would have gone for me,” Mr Dhillon said.