Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 27:12

"And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to put to sea from thence, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, and winter [there; which is] a haven of Crete, looking northeast and south-east." — Acts 27:12 (ASV)

But the pilot and the ship’s owner preferred not to winter in the small, open bay of Fair Havens, being reluctant to seek quarters for themselves and their passengers in the small town of Lasea. They hoped to winter instead at the larger and safer port of Phoenix, forty miles west of Fair Havens. Between these two ports, however, the south coast of Crete turns suddenly to the north and exposes a ship to the northern gales before it regains the protection of the coast just before Phoenix. The centurion agreed with the pilot and the ship’s owner that it would, if at all possible, be best to winter at Phoenix.