South passage from Charleston, SC to St. Thomas

[Llerrad]

A friend of mine is getting ready to purchase a boat. He asked me if I would deliver it for him from South Carolina to St. Thomas. I've done many deliveries in the past in that region but that was in the 90s and all on sailboats. The boat he is getting ready to purchase is a 65 foot Malcolm Tennant design power cat. It has two Cummings 650 hp diesel engines. The fuel load is 2500 gallons. She cruises at 10 kn has a max speed of 23 kn. She has a beam of 25 feet and a max draft at 4'6". He was looking at December January time. I know there's big storms in the north Atlantic. Just curious whether I should go out to the Atlantic and drop down St. Thomas or go through the Bahamas. I'm leaning towards the Atlantic route.