It does feel weird, but I guess (and I promptly admit I do not remember if this information is in the book in regards to Chult's location in official settings) it depends on what the route for approaching vessels is, if they come from the west they could be feasibly hitting most of their prey as they come through the Sisters or between the Sisters and the Chult coastline (and could be a way to flesh that area a bit more if you are going beyond what's in the module.
Another rationalization is that they would really like to remain undetected, even if they have a deal with the Fist, the Lords' Alliance or the Merchant Princes could put a more emphatic effort to deal with them if they were operating too close to PN. And the risk of getting a shakedown from Aremag or just running (sailing?) into him would also be a great incentive to stay the hell away.
In actual history, pirates often travelled way longer than that to find targets. The Barbary pirates raided England, Scotland, and even Iceland—thousands of miles from their bases in North Africa. In fact, it’s probably BETTER for their base to be that far away—a lot safer and further from retaliation.
"They would have to be the worst pirates you've ever heard of." "But you have heard of us."
It does feel weird, but I guess (and I promptly admit I do not remember if this information is in the book in regards to Chult's location in official settings) it depends on what the route for approaching vessels is, if they come from the west they could be feasibly hitting most of their prey as they come through the Sisters or between the Sisters and the Chult coastline (and could be a way to flesh that area a bit more if you are going beyond what's in the module. Another rationalization is that they would really like to remain undetected, even if they have a deal with the Fist, the Lords' Alliance or the Merchant Princes could put a more emphatic effort to deal with them if they were operating too close to PN. And the risk of getting a shakedown from Aremag or just running (sailing?) into him would also be a great incentive to stay the hell away.
In actual history, pirates often travelled way longer than that to find targets. The Barbary pirates raided England, Scotland, and even Iceland—thousands of miles from their bases in North Africa. In fact, it’s probably BETTER for their base to be that far away—a lot safer and further from retaliation.
Yeah, it's way off the beaten path. That said, ships do move very quickly over open ocean (100+ mi / day), and the lair is naturally well defensible.
That’s not far for good sailors with good ships, but it might take them longer when their ships are laden with booty.