But if you are crossing to the Bahamas from the usual Florida points to the usual Bahama points, you will only be traveling "offshore" for a few hours. Even Miami straight through to Nassau is only a 24hr run. From there, all traveling is day sailing and within sight of land, not to mention much of it being in rather protected waters. Weather forecasts for a single day are very accurate for these time frames and you will rarely be out of VHF communications. If the worse did happen and the boat went out from under you, an epirb will have someone on scene in less than 24hrs - most likely within 3-6 hrs.

For this type of cruising, a liferaft could be considered overkill - particularly if your dinghy is easily accessible (I consider it that way, but everyone's comfort level is different).

Mark