I was going to the Bahamas last November. For various reasons it didn't happen - boat has been on the hard since October 2011. This year I said I was going to the Bahamas in November. Looks like that might not happen either, worklist is too long. And so my question:

How do you get there from the Chesapeake later in the year (or real early in the year)?

The common prescription from Norfolk is to wait for a good weather window between Nov 1 and Nov 30, the first to avoid the hurricanes, the last to avoid north Atlantic storms. But if you have to leave later that that, what is the normal method? Jump down the coast when the weather is good till you get to Florida, then beat into the trades? Take your chances with gales blowing down from the north and go offshore?

As some of you might remember, my boat is 6.5' water draft, about 64' air draft. So at least parts of the intercoastal seem dodgy.

I might get going by the end of November, but it might be December or January. Boat would get put in the water in late Oct or Nov, so I guess the southern Chesapeake is getting kind of cold then? Seems to rain pretty much every day here, so that doesn't change....