Sailing Denmark part 1: Møns Klint to Vejrø

Sailing Denmark, part one

The sail from Copenhagen to Klintholm on the island of Møn took us about 5 hours – it’s not a long sail if the wind is reasonable.

Møn is famous for its white cliffs, named Møns Klint.  They’re not as high and vast as the white cliffs of Dover, but are incredibly striking nonetheless.  Møns Klint is about 7 km long and  100 meters high.

The chalky white cliffs are composed of billions of microscopic fossils of shelled sea creatures that lived about 70 million years ago. During the ice age, the sea bed was pushed up and compacted by glaciers, resulting in the cliffs and the hills of Møn.

You can explore the cliffs (stairs down to the beach make it easy) and visit the GeoCenter with its 3D theatre to find out more about the formation of the cliffs.

The closest marina to Møns Klint is Klintholm Havn

Klintholm Havn is a large (for Denmark) modern marina with alongside places for larger boats and boxes for smaller ones.  The mooring places are spread out over a holiday home area, so the atmosphere there is more “vacation” than “fisherman”.   Just make sure you moor in the marina and not in the fishing boat harbour.

The most incredible thing happened while we at Klintholm! We came upon another Swiss-flagged Discovery 55.  Since there are only 50 Discovery 55s in the world, and only three that are Swiss-flagged, this was really incredible, given that we were in a marina in a relatively remote area in Denmark. We invited the owners of “Blue Harmony”  for a drink in our cockpit, and had such a great time and good conversation that we continued on for dinner at the Portofino restaurant until almost midnight.

The marina has all of the facilities you’d expect:

• Toilets and showers (in three difference buildings so you don’t have a long walk to either of them)
• Water and electricity (included in the price)
• Laundry facilities
• Free wifi
• Turist information at the marina office
• Small grocery store (sells the coins for the laundromat and rents bicycles)
• 3 different restaurants
• beaches
• Sail repair and other boat repair shops
• Fuel station
• Grilling facilities

Prices per night: 9 -11.99 meters: 160 DKK; 12 – 14.99 meters: 200DKK; 15 – 17.99 meters: 250DKK; over 18 meters: 375 DKK.  If you stay 4 nights in a row, the fifth night is free.

Since this is a marina that’s a convenient distance from the north of Germany, it gets full during the summer months of June, July and August.  You may want to reserve a berth. Telephone: +45 24 42 21 82 or +45 21 36 35 77

Discovering the island of Vejrø

Vejrø is a privately owned island in the region called Smålandsfarvandet, located between Sjaelland and Lolland. It’s quite small – only 2.5 km long and 700 meters wide – but still has a small airstrip.  Most of the land on the island is used for ecological farming.

This was actually our second choice harbour for “in case the wind changes direction”.  Since the wind did indeed change direction, we ended up on Vejrø.  Fortunately, it was still quite early in the season, and we didn’t need to a berth. The marina can accept up to 85 boats, and there were only 9-10 boats there when we arrived.

A luxury hotel provides gourmet eating at the restaurant “Skipperly” for those of you who appreciate fine food.  The restaurant provided one gourmet tasting menu with matching wine for the evening.  The atmosphere is cosy, relaxed, yet “nordic luxurious”.  You can have a drink or coffee in the lounge with its soft jazz and comfortable sofas and armchairs.  There’s also a bar and a small fram shop with products produced on Vejrø.  For us, it was a nice break after days of cooking and eating dinner (and doing the dishes) on the boat.

The marina is a bit more expensive than most other marinas in Denmark, but then the facilities are more “luxuious” than in other marinas and are included in the price.  The showers and toilets are impeccably clean and larger than in most marinas.  Other facilities include:

• Laundry
• Picnic and grilling area (wood provided for the grilling)
• Huge playground for children, including a little “zoo” with rabbits and chickens
• Football (soccer field)
• Tennis court
• Bicycles in different sizes

Prices in 2016:

• up to 15 meters: 350 DKK
• 15 – 20 meters: 450 DKK
• Over 20 meters: 550 DKK

If you like to walk and discover nature, the entire island is strewn with footpaths and there’s a lot of wildlife.  We saw a number of rabbits and hares, pheasants and deer.  The beaches are “wild” so you’ll lots of sea birds.

We loved our stay on Vejrø and regretted not being able to stay a couple more days!

To reserve a berth (especially if your boat is over 15 meters) call +45 2027 2360.  You can also send a mail at info@vejroe.dk.  To reserve a table at Skipperly, the number is: +45 2067 0146.