Putting out to sea may be rendered as “leaving the harbor and going out on the sea” or “leaving the protected water and going out where the water is not protected by the land.”

It may be also be important to stipulate Phoenix as a harbor, though this is specified later in verse 12.

That faces southwest and northwest (so most translations) is rendered “looking northeast” by the Revised Standard Version; however, the Revised Standard Version does have a note indicating the possibility of “southwest and northwest.” In Greek, the terms “southwest” and “northwest” are names referring to winds that come from those respective directions. The different translations are based upon different interpretations of the prepositions which precede these nouns in the Greek sentence. The Revised Standard Version takes this preposition to mean “facing the direction toward which the winds blow,” while the Good News Translation takes it to mean “facing the direction from which the winds blow.” The latter interpretation has two factors in its support: (1) the use of this preposition in similar constructions in the Septuagint supports it (see 2 Chronicles 4.4; Ezekiel 8.3; 9.2; 11.1; 40.6; 43.1; 44.1), and (2) the modern Phineka, a harbor open to winds from the west, is evidently Phoenix. If the Revised Standard Version rendering is correct, the reference must be to the harbor of Lutro, which is separated from Phineka by an extension of land into the sea called Muros. Phineka is open to winds from the west, while Lutro is open to winds from the east.

In dealing with directions there are often a number of complications. In a number of languages, references to directions are based entirely upon local geographical objects—for example, names of particular rivers, head-lands, or mountains. However, in a high percentage of languages, east and west are designated primarily by reference to the rising and setting of the sun, and terms for north and south are frequently described in terms of the right hand or the left hand of the rising or setting sun. For example, in this instance a harbor … that faces southwest and northwest may be translated as “a harbor that is open to the sea to the left of the setting sun and to the right of the setting sun.” In some languages an expression such as “to the right of the setting sun” would designate due north, but in other languages it may designate northwest. Some languages make a distinction between “a little to the right of the setting sun” and “very much to the right of the setting sun” as a way of talking about northwest and north respectively.

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 .