Sorry for the late post...
We finally decided we did not want to beat to weather so we did it the easy way like 'Dreaming Yachtman' and went over the top.
A lovely 4 day sail to
Miami in the 2-3
knot current with a lay over in the
Dry Tortugas.
A lovely week in Coconut Grove.
Then we went due east through the Providence Channel and out east until we picked up the trades to go south to St Thomas. We did not have to go to 65W but got the trades at 66W.
Going east we did have to sail towards
Bermuda for 2 days but the conditions were lovely and we were catching
fish.
Total sea time was 13 days with 10 days of lovely easy sailing and 2-3 days of motoring because the winds were light. My wife gets an itchy starter finger when the
boat does less than 3 knots.
In the Islands we met a
boat that had spent 12 days beating to weather to do St Pete to the DR when they took the South of Cuba Route.
Total breakage on the 1,700 mile trip was a $9 shackle which sure beats the things I have broken on two trips down the 'Thorny Path.'