MovieChat Forums > The Poseidon Adventure (2005) Discussion > Destination

Destination

posted 19 years ago by hughie522
6 replies | jump to latest

For those of you that have seen the film (like me - c'mon Aussies, c'mon, c'mon!), does anyone else think it's strange that the Poseidon, that sailed from Cape Town in South Africa and from the maps is obviously sailing east (in the satellite images the Poseidon is east of Australia) is headed for Sydney and not Perth? I know (for a vast majority of Americans - sorry guys!) that Sydney is the most well known city in our Land of Oz, but wouldn't the Poseidon be headed for Perth (which is, if I remember correctly, a port in its own right) if it's coming from the west? Because I thought it was rather odd that the Poseidon would be sailing east and headed for Sydney, and after conferring with dad on the details came to this conclusion:

If the Poseidon is sailing east it SHOULD be sailing to Perth. If it is trying to get to Sydney it would either have to go over the tip of Queensland (which is hazardous enough for small fishing vessels, and probably impossible for a 140,000-ton cruise ship) or down past Tasmania (which would just take too long). Now, if the Poseidon WAS sailing east than this is a factual error. However, I may be wrong (the Poseidon may have been sailing west, although, as far as I know, all cruise ships that are sailing to Australia from Cape Town sail east and dock in Perth). Can anyone confer with me on this?

[–] misschicken 19 years ago

Yes, this is what I thought.

When the murder was discovered the Captain (I think) said something about heading quickly to Sydney. As there were still in the Indian Ocean, which we know for sure because the rescuers were coming from Diego Garcia, then in an emergency they would head to the port of Fremantle (about 20 minutes drive from Perth) as it is thousands of kilometers closer than Sydney (Sydney is 4100 kilometers from Perth).

I can't see that any cruise ship would sail from Cape Town without stopping at Fremantle and probably at Hobart (Tasmania) as well.

[–] jonwendes 19 years ago

The idea that the ship was bound for Sydney is a good one. The ship would have sailed out of the Indian Ocean, through the Great Australian Bight, into Bass Straight & then up the east coast to Sydney. However, with a death on board, the ship would have put into the nearest port which would probably have been Fremantle in Western Australia.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] hughie522 19 years ago

Yeah, why not? I thought, since everyone else has nitpicked all other aspects of this film I might as well take the one that no one is really bothered about and blow the whole thing completely out of proportion :D. It's just my style...

[–] misschicken 19 years ago

THIS is what you focus on?

I think it is a worthwhile pick. It is as a silly a goof as if a movie had a ship sailing in the Caribbean getting into trouble and they decided to go an Canadian port for help instead of calling into a Port in Florida or somewhere like that.

[–] 19 years ago

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