Lighthouse Beach stretches south of Port Macquarie near the historic Tacking Point Lighthouse, and its fringing rock platform offers a reasonable calm-day snorkelling option along an otherwise long, exposed stretch of open surf coastline. As with the area's other ocean beaches, this is fundamentally a swimming and surfing beach rather than a dive destination, and the rock reef itself is modest in scale and depth compared with the boat-accessible sites further offshore that Port Macquarie's dive operators focus on. On a calm day, though, the platform supports a reasonable variety of small reef fish and invertebrates typical of exposed mid-north-coast rock shelves, giving an interested snorkeller or shallow-water diver something worthwhile to look at close to shore.

The lighthouse above the beach is a well-known whale-watching point during the annual migration, and the same stretch of water sometimes carries whale song audible to divers and snorkellers below, even without a direct sighting. Given the beach's considerable length and mostly open, low-relief sand character away from the rock platform, visiting divers are best served concentrating their effort on the rockier sections close to the platform itself rather than the open beach, and should treat this, like Flynns and Shelly Beach nearby, as a pleasant snorkelling option rather than a planned scuba destination. Genuine diving interest in the Port Macquarie area is better served by Scuba Haven's boat trips to the area's reef and pinnacle sites.

Combining a walk to the lighthouse with a short snorkel at the platform below makes for a pleasant, low-effort half-day rather than a dedicated diving outing.

Lighthouse Beach is reached via Matthew Flinders Drive south of Port Macquarie, near the Tacking Point Lighthouse. Park at the beach reserve and carry gear a short distance to the sand, entering over the fringing rock platform on a calm day; the beach is long and exposed, so choose a sheltered pocket close to the rocks rather than the open surf faces.

An open, exposed surf beach — diveable or snorkelable only in calm, low-swell conditions close to the rock platform; rip currents are a genuine hazard along the open beach faces.

Enter from the sand near the rock platform on a calm day and snorkel or shallow-dive the fringing reef, staying close to the rocks rather than venturing onto the open sand where there is little to see.

No dedicated dive charter uses this beach directly; snorkelled and occasionally dived independently in calm conditions.