Not an easy trip in January, the
Yucatan Channel is not a nice place to be when there is a northern low dipping south. We were in Cancun last January and the big (60 ft+)sports fisherman who were arriving for the
fishing season reported a very hard trip. We listened on the
VHF to two
power boat rescues.
At least one of the St Pete to Isla Mujeres sailing regattas in April has experienced severe
weather and the year I did it we had 8 ft seas and 35 knots.
It is about 350 miles between gas stations unless you are willing to go into
Cuba you should carry a big reserve. You should not assume you will be able to plane the boat once you get out of the protected waters of the Keys to
Dry Tortugas.
In a
single engined boat you are in real trouble if you have a failure.
rescue at sea, jan 22, 2011 - CNN iReport
Good luck.