The Queen Elizabeth 2 took several minutes to turn in the harbour outside Cobh in Co Cork. Plenty of spectators watching from boats as the sun started to sink behind the horizon.

Cunard, owner of the Queen Elizabeth 2 which docked in Cobh a few weeks ago.

Lifeboats are dotted around the The Queen Elizabeth 2. They’re high up above some of the lower decks as far as I can remember and there are plenty of them. Hopefully won’t ever be needed.

Crowds gathered to see the Queen Elizabeth 2 off from Cobh 2 weeks ago, but they weren’t getting on board unless they had a ticket!

The funnel of the Queen Elizabeth 2 looms over Cobh as seen from near the Commodore Hotel.

The QE2 docked in Cobh last Thursday. This was shot at the bottom of steps down to the water where seaweed made footing precarious. I saw a few people venture down the steps but none went further than half way down. The tide was well out so I was maybe 3m below the quayside, standing…

Luxury cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 tied up at the quayside in Cobh, Co Cork last Thursday. This was moments before she cast off. You can see a tug in the background of this image. It was bitterly cold down on the quay, but we were lucky that the evening sun cast a lovely golden…

The Queen Elizabeth 2 is a British ship, and it’s likely that many of the passengers were British too. I spotted one large Union Jack flag draped over a railing and people on the ship waved mini Union Jack flags too. That sort of gets under the skin of many Irish people. A huge crowd…

The Queen Elizabeth 2, or QE2, flagship of the Cunard Line, docked for the last time in Cobh yesterday and left this evening just after 6pm. Here she is after turning in Cork Harbour and seconds before she increased speed and left the harbour for good. In 2009, she will become a floating hotel in…