Augustenborg Yachthavn

Augustenborg Yachthavn lies at the head of Augustenborg Fjord on Als, on the southern side of the fjord. It is a private harbour with 216 berths, unusual in combining four things in one family-run operation: the marina, a boatyard, winter storage in sheds and outdoors, and a campsite on the harbour grounds themselves. The business dates back to 1977 and is now in its second generation.

The fjord is almost entirely enclosed, and that is the harbour's principal virtue: you lie sheltered here in almost any weather. The price is a long and fairly narrow approach. The buoyed channel through Als Sound and Augustenborg Fjord is dredged to a design depth of three metres, but neither the fjord nor the harbour is lit, and there are no lighthouses. Entry should therefore be made in daylight and good visibility.

The most reliable landmark is the DLG grain silo on the north side of the fjord — fifty metres tall and visible from a long way off. During the grain harvest it throws up dust, so it is not a place to berth close to. Worth knowing: the silo may be demolished as part of a planned redevelopment of the municipal harbour on the north side, so it is not a permanent seamark.

Coming in, you see Augustenborg Castle on the northern shore. The town grew up around it. Frederik III sold the Stavnsbøl district to Duke Ernst Günther in 1651, the present castle was built in 1776, and the town probably received market privileges in 1764. The castle served as a field hospital during the First Schleswig War, then as barracks and hospital, from 1878 as a German women's teacher-training college, and from 1932 right up to 2015 as a psychiatric hospital. Today it houses the Danish Agricultural Agency. The town is still called the ducal town.

A year-round conservation zone surrounds the harbour so that sea trout can reach their spawning grounds; fishing there is prohibited. North of the causeway lies the Lillehav nature reserve, connected to the harbour by a sluice. Outside the zone there is sea trout, mackerel, herring and flounder, with pollack and garfish in season.

Ashore there is a playground with sandpits, table tennis, a ball pitch and a wood with a barbecue area. Two llamas graze the grounds. The town centre is about five hundred metres away, Sønderborg seven to nine kilometres, and the castle park and the Augustiana sculpture park are both walkable once the boat is secured.