Grankullavik
Harbour
Grankullavik is a very interesting stopover along the coast of Sweden. It is a good location to sail to Visby, Gotland, or further north, or south, along the coast.
The bay has played a major historical role until recent years, in particular for the trade of lumber from Nabbelund until the 1950s. The ferry service between Nabbelund and Klintehamn or Visby on Gotland was interrupted in 2009 after an accident.
The harbour is nowadays almost abandoned. A small camping-car site at the entrance of the pier operates the harbour. Electricity and water is available for a small harbour fee.
Långe Erik lighthouse
The bay is almost enclosed by two headlands in the north, and the entrance goes through a clearly marked narrow channel. The Långe Erik lighthouse was built in 1845 but is no longer in use as most of the lighthouses along the coast. It can be visited during the summer.
Troll skogen - The troll forest
On Norra Udde, there is a natural park called the troll forest.
Along the shore, one can still see the wreck of a 34 metres three-masted schooner from Åland, called Swiks, that went aground here on 21 December 1926, during a snow storm. The seven crews managed to get ashore as the ship got on a sand bank during an attempt to get around Norra Udde to seek shelter on the other side of Öland. As seen on the picture above, the Swiks was stranded on a sand bank for quite some time, until in the 1950s', a storm broke it in two parts, one of which ended-up on the beach where it still can be seen today.
Neptuni Åkrar - Fields of Neptune
Neptuni Åkar is a natural park along the coast of Öland, north of Byxelkrok. Carl Linnaeus gave this name to the place in 1741 as he was impressed by the shape of the coast that could only have been created by Neptune himself. The shape today results of thousands years of glacial deposit having been washed on the shore.
The full brochure in Swedish can be downloaded here (19 MB).
Along Neptuni Åkrar, August 2010
Centrifugus fossile, a species originally known from the Upper Silurian of northern Europe (Gotland). Lots of such fossile can be seen here as in Gotland, over the limestone shores.
Getting there
Grankullavik
A ferry runs in the summer between Oskarshamn and Byxelkrok in 2h20.
Alternatively, buses are running from Kalmar to Byxelkrok in 2h20.
Nabbelund harbour
The bay of Grankullavik is shallow and quite open to northern winds. The area along the pier in Nabelund is less than 2 metre deep. Alternatively, anchoring just outside the jetty is possible.
Grankullavik
- Coordinates: 57.34996, 17.103996
- 42 miles from Visby
- 21 to Oskarshamn
- 98 to Nynäshamn
- 50 to Kalma