The coast is literally “it” in Greek; the reference, of course, is to the southern coast of Crete. There is some question as to whether the phrase with great difficulty should be taken with the verb we kept close to or with the verb came, as the Good News Translation has done. Most translators take it with the first of these two verbs (for example, An American Translation* “with difficulty coasted along it and reached a place”).

In all of these “we” passages there is the possibility of the reader assuming that those identified by we were the sailors. One must, therefore, in some languages translate as “the ship in which we were going kept close to the coast” or “the ship in which we were, traveled along very close to the land.”

Safe Harbors appears in most translations as “Fair Havens.” Both Safe Harbors and Lasea were towns located on the southern side of Crete about midway. The name Safe Harbors may be translated as “harbors for protecting ships” or “harbors where ships could remain safe.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .