Why the aversion to hiring a captain? Tiger Woods has a coach; Muhamed Ali had a coach. Smart, competent people hire advisors/coaches all the time. Ships are required to have locally knowledgeable pilots aboard when they enter defined navigational areas.
I was a
delivery skipper for about 5-years specializing in trawler/motoryachts. Much of my work was with owners aboard, some were fairly experienced (one had owned a marine-based company with a dozen workboats on the
Hudson River for over 40-years). You will learn about
weather, optimizing
fuel economy, route planning, reading
water, minimizing sea effect of sea conditions such as afternoon winds or crossing wakes, rules-of-the-road, and so much more.
Money well spent.
Please don't 'hate' on the CF'ers who responded and didn't heed your 'don't want a captain' intro. Frankly, your original post was shocking in the ignorance of the most basic
marine terminology. The responses are really saying to you
"Hey, you don't know what you don't know." An online Intervention makes sense. Your assumption that there is a magic route that you can
plug into your
equipment to keep you safe is either ignorant or arrogant (perhaps both). The route you're seeking would have 100s/1000s of waypoints. This could easily cost you dearly as I'd guess your boat has exposed props and could easily sustain thousands of dollars of damages and a couple weeks of time. And that's at the better end of possible outcomes.
To further add to my head-scratching, you reveal you somehow managed to snare a captains license. I have worn a swath of baldness reconciling that tidbit.
Obviously, you've been told by many people before you posted that you should hire a captain. Obviously you know better - you use
Google Maps to drive your car, how hard can it be, right? I really hope it goes well but you are stacking the
deck against yourself. If something doesn't go right, please don't go into victim mode. BTW - some charting packages have an Auto-Route function similar to
Google Maps on your smart
phone. I kiddingly suspect it's sponsored by SeaTow to keep them in business.
Good luck. Keep a healthy limit on your credit card. You may need it.
To all you sailors who will invariably use this example as fodder about powerboaters. This is an incredibly rare example of hubris, arrogance, and ignorance - more dollars than sense [cents]. The vast majority of newbies in powerboats (at least
trawler types) are self-depricating and are eager to learn.