PASSENGERS enjoyed cruising off the coast of Cornwall as Waverley, the world’s last seagoing paddle steamer, provided a number of excursions across five days.

The elegant vessel visited Falmouth, Fowey, Mevagissey, Penzance and Padstow as well as Plymouth Sound.

Special highlights included Waverley’s first public sailing from Mevagissey since 1997 and the ship’s first visit to Padstow this century. The vessel had last been at Padstow in the 1980s.

A spokesperson said: “Waverley had a great few days sailing in the South West. The weather was overcast for just the first day before turning exceptional giving many the opportunity to capture the world’s last seagoing paddle steamer with calm seas and clear blue skies.”

More than 2,600 passengers stepped aboard Waverley during her five-day period in the South West which included sailings off the South Devon coast and co-incided with the May heatwave.

The spokesperson said: “It was great to see such a fantastic turnout to welcome the ship at Mevagissey for her first visit to the Cornish village in 29 years.”

One of the excursions left from Falmouth and Penzance to cruise off Mousehole, Gwennap Head, Land’s End and St Michael’s Mount.

Waverley made an overnight passage from Falmouth to off Padstow with only her crew on board. The ship was then watched by beach-goers as she was accompanied along the Camel estuary by a fleet of small boats.

A Padstow Tourist Information Centre spokesperson said: “It was a pleasure to see Waverley coming into Padstow.”

Waverley sailed from Padstow to Ilfracombe in North Devon before undertaking Bristol Channel and Wales sailings.

National Coastwatch Institution volunteers logged the vessel, which was built in the 1940s, entering the Camel estuary and off the coast at Boscastle. The vessel was also captured in videos and photographs by people on the coast and at sea around Cornwall.