Passage du Gois is a submersible causeway in the Bay of Bourgneuf, connecting the island of Noirmoutier to the mainland in the department of Vendée, in France. Interestingly, twice a day, for an hour or two, the tide goes out and the causeway becomes visible and reachable to traffic. For the rest of the day, it remains flooded under 1.3 to 4 meters of water and cannot be used.
Even though causeways such as Passage du Gois exist in other places like Jindo in Korea, the distinctiveness of Passage du Gois lies in its exceptional length of four to five kilometers. In the 18th century, the causeway was much longer because the old dikes were farther from the coast. Therefore, in the early days, the only way to reach Noirmoutier was by boat.
Then the Bay of Bourgneuf slowly silted up and the causeway was shaped, permitting men and animals to wade through the waters to the island. Well, the name “Gois” comes from the verb “goiser,” which means to walk while wetting one’s shoes. It was in 1701 that the passage linking the mainland to the island was first mentioned on a map.
Moreover, the inquisitiveness has existed since the collapse of the plateau, which gave birth to the bay of Bourgneuf. For thousands of years, the two present forms—the north and south—hitting the bay have resulted in the deposition of silt, which has repeatedly moved before stabilizing.
Now stabilization work was done to stop the sand from moving and a cobblestone road was laid down. Regular services were offered by automobile or horseback in the mid-18th century. In 1971, a bridge linking the island to the mainland was built as an alternative route to the island of Noirmoutier.
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