Gjøl Fiskeri- og Lystbådehavn

Gjøl Fiskeri- og Lystbådehavn lies on the north side of the Limfjord between Gjøl Bredning and Nibe Bredning, on what was an island until the 1920s. Land reclamation then built a causeway to the moraine hill of Øland to the west, and much of Gjøl Bjerg was dug away to make it. The harbour is owned and run by Jammerbugt Municipality, which employs a harbour warden from March to October. There are 145 permanent berths from two to four and a half metres wide, so the harbour effectively suits boats up to around forty feet.

The single most important thing for a visiting crew is the approach channel. It silts up every year and has to be dredged clear. In the winter of 2024-25 barely a metre of water stood in the channel, while ordinary sailing boats draw one and a half to two metres — the local sailors were effectively shut in until the municipality had its dumping permit renewed in March 2025. Dredging costs around four hundred thousand kroner a year per harbour and is expected to rise. Call the warden before arriving if you draw deep.

The approach runs along a marked channel from the south on a heading of almost due north. There is a red flash on the outer mole head and two fixed greens on the inner mole head and by the clubhouse. Note the season: the lights burn only from 1 April to 23 October, and the lateral marks in the channel are laid only for the same period. Outside the season there are neither lights nor buoys.

Immediately south-west of the harbour begins the Ulvedybet and Nibe Bredning game reserve, whose eastern boundary runs from the harbour southward over the nearest red mark to the shore. Restrictions apply to navigation, anchoring and shooting.

The harbour is cheap and hospitable in a way that has become rare. Shower, electricity and water are included in the harbour dues, the washing machine and tumble dryer are free, and so are the bicycles. In front of the Nature and Culture Café stands the Gear House, where sailors and harbour visitors can borrow binoculars, GPS, fishing tackle and fire bowls free of charge. Seven associations with around five hundred members are based here — sailing club, rowing and kayak club, fishermen's and boat guild, wooden-ship guild, winter bathers, art society and the café.

Gjøl began as a fishing hamlet. In 1895 seventy-five of the villagers lived by fishing with twelve boats, and the harbour was built that same year; a mole followed around 1930. The yacht harbour was opened in 1988. From 1908 to 1940 the Gøl boat came daily from Aalborg with fresh goods, and the harbour was the village's fixed meeting place.

This is also where Hans Kirk wrote The Fishermen. Fishermen from Harboøre on the west coast moved to Gjøl in the early 1900s and bought fishing waters in the milder Limfjord, bringing a strict Inner Mission faith with them. Kirk moved into the inn at Gjøl in the summer of 1925 to research, and his 1928 novel portrays the collision between the incoming mission people and the more Grundtvigian locals. Behind the village lies Gjøl Bjerg with views over Ulvedybet, and waymarked walking and cycling routes of five to ten kilometres start from the harbour.