How many hours a day
The key I feel is that you depart & arrive at any unknown anchorages during day light hours !
I can leave or arrive at my home port in the middle of the night as I have local knowledge & know it like the back of my hand.
However, at a port or marina or anchorage that I am un-familiar with, I only enter & leave during daylight hours.
Cruise speed is a factor of fuel consumption & your time constraints.
I personally prefer to cruise at 8 knots. For an 8 hour day that is 64 miles.
10 hours day is 80 miles & 12 hour day is 96 miles, etc....
So coming into May & June you have reliable 10 to 12 hours of day light per day. More on June 21st - the longest day for us here in USA & of course this changes with your latitude for your exact location. Alaska has some areas with 20 hours of daylight & more.
Bridges are a pain & you need to change your speed to synchronize your arrival to arrive like 5 minutes before opening. This often required you to slow to 5 or 6 knots. But that is better then milling around with a bunch of other boats all in a tight area waiting for bridge to open.
Some areas are no wake zones - so you have to slow to 5 knots for these as well. So research the route fully & go from there.
good luck on your trip & have fun.
Alfa Mike