Fair Havens

Fair Havens is a natural harbour on the southern coast of the island of Crete, situated approximately five miles east of the town of Lasea. It is mentioned once in Scripture, in the account of Paul's voyage to Rome (Acts 27:8), when the ship carrying him as a prisoner found temporary shelter there after difficult sailing.

Though the harbour offered some protection, the ship's officers and owner judged it unsuitable for wintering — it was exposed to certain winds — and overruled Paul's counsel to remain. They pressed on for the port of Phoenix, also in Crete, but were caught by a violent northeaster known as Euroclydon, the storm that eventually wrecked the ship near Malta. Fair Havens thus appears in the narrative as the last point of safety before catastrophe, the place where Paul's warning to stay went unheeded.