Point Lonsdale Light is the shallow reef immediately below the lighthouse, between the Inner Lonsdale Reef to the south-west and the jetty to the north-east, and it is the gentlest of the Point Lonsdale platform dives – a 1–5 m snorkel and scuba site that the Scuba Doctor listing rates for snorkelling, Open Water and beyond, and notes 'the water is nearly always very clear'.

The bottom is limestone ledges and gutters dominated by sea nymph (Amphibolis) seagrass and short kelp, and the listing's species list is a good indication of what a snorkeller sees: juvenile western blue groper (a species at the eastern edge of its range here), bluethroat wrasse, moonlighters, scalyfin, magpie morwong, juvenile abalone, biscuit stars, triton shells and chitons. Crayfish sit under the ledges, and the reef edge gives way to the deeper kelp of Shark Gutter and the jetty reef patches. Cormorants and, occasionally, seals work the edge of the platform, and the lighthouse and the pilot station stand directly above.

The warning that applies to the whole platform applies here in the plainest terms: the listing says 'do not attempt this dive with the incoming tide washing in over the Point Lonsdale Reef, as you will be easily swept away'. The reef dries and floods with each tide, the flood arrives as a moving sheet of water across it, and the entrance is a hundred metres away. The dive is therefore done at low water at the end of the ebb, on a calm day, and finished as soon as the water starts to move. Within those limits it is a fine shallow site – clear, fishy, historic and free – and it is the best place on the Bellarine side to introduce a confident snorkeller to the Heads.

Park at the Point Lonsdale lighthouse car park (free, toilets) and walk down to the beach below the lighthouse; the listing directs access 'along the beach between Inner Lonsdale Reef and the pier to the north when the tide is out'. The carry is 100–150 m over sand and rock. Enter from the beach or the edge of the platform at low water and snorkel or dive over the reef; exit onto the beach before the flood comes over the reef.

Air fills Dive Victoria Group, Queenscliff (5 km). Melway 499 J6, beach marker 1B.

Shore dives on the Point Lonsdale platform are only possible at slack water at the end of the ebb, in the 20–40 minute window before the flood begins to pour in over the reef; the Point Lonsdale Light listing warns 'do not attempt this dive with the incoming tide washing in over the Point Lonsdale Reef, as you will be easily swept away'. Slack water at Port Phillip Heads does not coincide with high or low water: it falls roughly three hours after high or low water at Point Lonsdale, and the usable window is typically 20–40 minutes. Use the Ports Victoria / Port of Melbourne slack-water predictions for The Heads (also republished by charter operators and WillyWeather 'Rip Bank') rather than a standard tide table.

The platform faces the Rip and Bass Strait: it needs a swell under about 1 m and no southerly or westerly wind – in practice a few days of northerlies or a dead-calm morning – and even then surge runs through the gutters. Winter brings 11–13 °C water and bigger swells; late summer and autumn give most of the workable days. Visibility on the platform is usually clear (5–15 m) because the water is straight from Bass Strait.

At low water at the end of the ebb, enter from the beach, work out over the sea-nymph beds and ledges at 1–5 m toward the reef edge and back, staying within a short swim of the beach; leave the water as soon as the flood begins to move over the reef. Snorkellers should stay inside the reef line.

No commercial operator runs these shore dives; Dive Victoria Group (Queenscliff) can advise on conditions and occasionally guides the platform for experienced groups. Dived independently by Bellarine and Geelong club divers on the rare calm ebb slacks.