Today marks the second anniversary of the QE2's final voyage from Southampton to Dubai. At departure time tugs moved the QE2 from alongside the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal towards Mayflower Park, followed by a flotilla of boats. There followed a spectacular five-minute long fireworks display.
After the fireworks the QE2 said her own goodbye to Southampton with one long blast on her whistles. As the sound of her whistles reverberating across the harbour the flotilla of boats replied in a cacophony of sirens, horns and whistles. Then, escorted by these craft - of all shapes and sizes - the QE2 headed down Southampton Water.
She arrived in Dubai on 26th November 2008 for a promised conversion to a luxury hotel. Within months a succession of announcements about the future plans for the QE2 were unveiled. However the global recession stalled these plans and she remains "mothballed" at Port Rashid in Dubai. Today two years after she left the UK for the last time the QE2 finds herself in an unexpected and undesired situation, the confidence of two years ago has been replaced with uncertainty.
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