Here in Tor Bay the visitor is spoiled with the different range of Pleasure Boat trips, Ferries and day and night Cruises that are on offer at each of the harbours.  There are boats that ferry passengers from Torquay, Paignton and Brixham.  Several ferry companies provide boat trips to Dartmouth, Exmouth and Totnes too, as well as the three towns in Tor Bay.  

Many of the companies provide night-time cruises during the summer season to watch the fireworks or just to view the night-time illuminations and an evening wildlife cruise around the area surrounding the Living Coasts marine aviary runs every Tuesday during the summer holiday season with a Living Coasts 'Educator' on board talking through the wildlife, geology and landmarks.

For contact numbers of cruise companies please visit the Paignton Harbour Contacts page.

Destination South West

Destination South West was initially set up to encourage cruise ship visits to the south west of England and represents the ports of Ilfracombe, Tor Bay, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Fowey, Falmouth, Penzance and Isles of Scilly. The initiative has since grown to include other partners.

Tor Bay is a picturesque anchorage which is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly wind.

The inner anchorage has 9.5 metre maximum draught and unlimited LOA/beam it is approximately 800 metres from either Torquay or Brixham Harbours.

The Outer anchorage has 18 metre maximum draught and unlimited LOA/beam and is 4 kilometres from Torquay and Brixham Harbours.

The Bay's anchorages are used by cruise ships wanting to disembark passengers and was used by the  Carnival cruise ship, the 'Carnival Miracle', (reported to have cost £ 375m) which sailed from it's shipyard in Helsinki to Torbay on Friday 13 February 2004.  The brief visit was to disembark the shipyard workers and to embark essential cruise staff via pilot launches.  The vessel sailed to Jacksonville, Florida, to start her first cruise.