Followup question, as this group has been great in providing
alternative
ideas:

Our boat draws 6-6 in flat water, bouncy water is more, of course, and
an
air draft of 64'. So, in the inverse of the song, "so high, you can't
get
under it, so low, you can't get over it" is of great concern. Not
dealing
with innumerable crab pots if we have to motor, particularly, despite
our
newly-to-be-installed propsaver, is interesting to us, too - thus the
thought of staying outside as much as possible on the way.

Our need is to get to someplace outside FL (not to come back for 183
days
minimum) within 20 days' travel from St. Pete; we're planning on a
backup of
going into a qualified marina to stop the clock if we don't time it
right
and the wait gets nervous-making.

Various other routes have been suggested other than Marathon and
across.

With the above as parameters, and with a reiteration of the first one's

comment that we won't cross with a north wind component - anything with
an "N"
in the direction, are there better suggestions on how to get to a fuel
stop
in the Bahamas (don't care where) from St. Pete in the shortest amount
of
time?

Thanks again for all the help.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain