Barry Brown won't be swimming at Wylie Bay again any time soon.
The Esperance resident was first on the scene following a shark attack on Sunday after taking his first dip in the ocean in about two years.
A young woman was bitten near Kelp Beds beach when the pool ring she was in blew about 200 metres off the coast just before midday.
Mr Brown said he and his brothers had been nervously watching her drift for about half an hour prior to the attack and were concerned given the region's reputation for sharks.
"She just seemed to be getting deeper and deeper and deeper," Mr Brown said.
"Then we actually saw a figure under the [pool ring] and we weren't quite sure whether it was a dolphin or what it was.
He said the woman waved her arms and started calmly swimming on her back, with one hand holding her side, returning to shore.
"The shark actually circled the [pool ring] a couple of times and then took back off into the blue."
He said there was a long trail of blood in the water and he was worried the shark would return as he went out to help the woman.
Once he reached her, about 15 to 20 metres out, he said he picked her up and ran back to the beach as fast as he could where his girlfriend met them.
"We wrapped her up in a towel, in one motion, chucked her in the back of a car and then straight off to the hospital."
Mr Brown said another couple of locals who he did not know took them to hospital as he tried to keep pressure on the towel to stop blood escaping.
"As shark bites go, it was not a 10/10 but it was one to still make you think anything could happen here."
He said the young woman remained conscious during the drive and had "a very cool head".
The young woman was then airlifted to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
She was in a stable condition at Royal Perth Hospital on Monday.
It is the fourth serious shark-related incident near Kelp Beds in recent years.
In 2014, surfer Sean Pollard lost an arm and a hand when he was attacked by a shark while surfing the break.
In 2017, 17-year-old Laeticia Brouwer was killed at the same site, as was local surfer Andrew Sharpe in October 2020.
Another local, Gary Johnson, was killed while scuba diving near Cull Island in January 2020.
Pool ring to be DNA tested
Graeme Meinema, the acting director of statewide operations for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, said the species of shark involved is not yet known.
But he said the pool ring has been recovered and will be tested for traces of shark DNA.
The state government's Shark Smart website logged a report of a 3.3-metre white shark at the Kelp Beds receiver at 12.30pm yesterday.
Calls for better signage
Paramedic Paul Gaughan said the ambulance was en route to Wylie Bay when it was intercepted by a group of the girl's friends who informed the crew she had been taken to hospital.
Mr Gaughan, who has responded to other shark attacks near Esperance, suggested it was time for clearer warning signs about the history of recent shark attacks at Kelp Beds.
Mr Brown agreed, saying bigger signs were needed to make the risk of sharks more obvious to tourists.
Mr Meinema said there were a range of shark mitigation programs underway, but that education needed to be a focus.
"Whether that's signage, whether that's some sort of advertising through the paper or media, we really do need to make people aware that these areas do have white sharks and various other shark species," he said.
Wylie Bay was closed following the attack and is expected to remain closed for at least 24 hours.
