Whiterock is home to two yacht clubs: Strangford Lough Yacht Club and 1.5 km to the north, Down Cruising Club.[3] The latter is based in a moored former lightship, the Petrel, acquired in 1968. The lightship had been built by the Dublin Dockyard Company in 1915 for the Commissioners of Irish Lights and since registered as a National Historic Ship UK.[4][5]
Between the two yacht clubs is Sketrick Castle, a 15th-century tower house on Sketrick Island, now in ruins. To the south of Whiterock is Ballymorran Bay.[3]