The Lost Lowdown

I was listening to the the most recent podcast (#48), and the dicussion about compass bearings 305 and 325 got me thinking. We've seen them use 305 leaving the island and we've them use 305 to get to the island. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the way compass bearings work, but isn't 305 basically 10 degrees short of exactly northwest. How can they be traveling northwest to get from the freighter to the island and also travel northwest to get from the island to the freighter. If they take 305 to get from the freighter to the island, shouldn't they take 125 to get back to the freighter?

It should definitely depend on where you are on earth where the heading 305 sends you. Maybe the island is small enough and the hole in the barrier is big enough that it doesn't matter, but, 305 outside the barrier will pretty much never land you where you want to be.