Boat Trips Around Beautiful Tor Bay in Devon

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Tor Bay is a beautifully sheltered crescent shaped bay in south Devon which has on its shores the iconic resort of Torquay as well as the towns of Paignton and Brixham. Its mild climate means that the area known as The English Riviera offers all year round attraction to visitors seeking a seaside break.

For visitors to the area on summer breaks there can be few more pleasant ways of seeing the area than from the water. A number of boat operators provide boat trips. Amongst these is the Greenway Ferry Company which is one of the largest. Amongst the cruises that they offer is a trip to Greenway, the summer home of Agatha Christie. This all day cruise departs Torquay's Princess Pier (which is behind the Princess Theatre) at 10.45am from Wednesday to Sunday between 1st April and 31st October. This cruise takes place aboard the Fairmile which was originally commissioned in 1942 as a Rescue Motor launch but which has been recently refitted to provide excellent accommodation and facilities for 21 century passengers.

The ferry company also operates a vintage bus to and from Greenway. This departs from Torquay at 10am and 2pm on the same days as the boat service. Combining such a trip with the English Riviera's Agatha Christie Week is a great way of making a short stay more memorable.

Another full day cruise is The Grand Heritage Voyage which takes visitors to Dartmouth and Slapton Sands. A focus of this voyage is World War II and in particular the pre D Day exercises which involved landings on Slapton Sands in an operation known as Operation Tiger. This new cruise was officially launched by HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne) in 2010.

For those who are more interested in the wildlife of Tor Bay, one and a half hour cruises are available. The Coral Star vessel's Seafari offers passengers the opportunity to see a wide variety of sea birds as well as seals, porpoises and even dolphins.

Other boat trips available include a cruise and meal voyage stopping off in Babbacombe Bay for a three course meal at an establishment voted the Best Gastro pub in Great Britain 2010. This is particularly suited to visitors enjoying a romantic break on the English Riviera.

There are of course a number of boat operators in the Torbay area and there is keen competition particularly on the routes between Brixham and Torquay. All of the operators supply the numerous guest houses, hotels and bed and breakfasts in the area with full timetables and brochures detailing their various excursions.

Boat trips are of course nothing new to the bay but what some might find more surprising is the fact that for quite a period of time Torquay also operated as a cross channel ferry port. This really began in the 1930's with sailings to the Channel islands and although they were suspended in World War II they resumed again afterwards. Vessels such as the Pride of Devon, the Princess Elizabeth, Lisieux and the Devonioun all continued taking passengers across the channel up until the 1990's. In 1995 a faster catamaran service operated by Condor ferries began a service to Guernsey and Jersey on alternate days. The service ceased operation after only two years and there has been no service since.

Even more amazing is the fact that Torquay was the home of the man who steered the Titanic into the iceberg. Robert Hitchens was the man who had his hands on the ship's wheel when it struck the iceberg. His subsequent behaviour when in charge of one of the lifeboats made him notorious particularly as he clashed with the inrcredible Molly Brown. Quartermaster Hitchens settled in Torquay some time after the incident and purchased a pleasure boat optimistically called the Queen Mary to take visitors to the Bay on trips. His business venture proved to be a failure and one of his financial backers seized the vessel. This plunged Hitchens into a spiral of drunken self destruction which led him to attempt to murder this gentleman as well as commit suicide. Neither of these efforts succeeded and the judge at his trial took pity on him given the ordeal he had suffered as a result of the sinking of the Titanic. Despite his attempts at murder, he was given a very lenient sentence and was released from prison after only three years. He died in 1940 whilst serving aboard another ship off the coast of Aberdeen.

Visitors to Torquay looking to combine a weekend break with one of the boat trips across Tor Bay will find excellent accommodation at the Somerville Hotel in Torquay. Located just a few minutes' walk from the harbour, the Somerville offers guests Five Star Guest Accommodation in Torquay on a bed and breakfast basis. The Somerville is open all year round and was awarded the South west's B&B of the Year in 2011.

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