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Cornwall was treated to a visit from a renowned superyacht on Tuesday, August 4, which cruised into place next to one of the most luxurious cruise ships in the world, much to the delight of locals.

The cruise ship, The World, which has been docked since May, towered over Katara, a rarely spotted yacht supposedly owned by the Qatari royal family.

Katara, a £200 million (roughly R4,5 billion) superyacht acquired its name from the first and oldest name assigned to the Qatar Peninsula on maps. The name, spelt with a ‘K’, first appeared on documents in the early 18th century and on French maps of the area.

According to Cornwall Live, the yacht docked at Falmouth for some maintenance and is due to depart today, August 6.

A few crew members were spotted on the superyacht, although it is not known what work is being carried out on the vessel whilst it is docked in Falmouth.

Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live

The 7 922-tonne superyacht was built in Germany at the Lurssen yard in 2010, and features a helicopter deck, a series of satellite communication domes, various tenders, and jet skis.

Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live

It also boasts a beach club, swimming pool, a gym and spa, and an on-deck hot tub, and the two 9 925 hp engines give it a top speed of around 20 knots, but it usually cruises at about 15 knots.

Its neighbour, The World, has spent its time in the company of the occasional tug boat or small vessel lately, so this is an improvement.

Since 2002 the massive cruise ship, whose home port is Fort Lauderdale in Florida, has sailed to 900 destinations in 140 countries, each carefully chosen by the resident passengers themselves.

Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live

Normally, the cruise ship has 200 people living on board permanently and traveling the globe in the most opulent luxury.

Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live

It is understood that because of the coronavirus pandemic all residents, guests and non-essential crew disembarked by March 20.

Its new friend, Katara, was built for the previous Emir of Qatar, father of the current Emir. While it isn’t quite as impressive as Steve Job’s ‘Venus’, it’s still pretty cool.

Living on a luxury yacht is not a bad way to ride out the pandemic.

[source:cornwalllive]