Go offshore and bypass Georgia if you can. The ICW is very twisty and turns there and eats up a lot of time.
My good friend Bill, this is one piece of bad advice in our strong opinion. Georgia is perhaps the most beautiful part of the trip, with lots of side trip and gunkholing (anchoring)opportunities, a destination for cruising unto itself. Better than almost anything Florida itself has to offer.
We encourage new folks to take the ICW the entire way, slowly at least once, then decide for themselves what parts to skip via the ocean. For us the latter ended up meaning virtually all of eastern Florida and as much of North Carolina as practical from Beaufort to the SC line.
We found the Waterway Guides to be excellent, easy to use resources, with good support from the folks who write and publish them. Having looked over the guides published by the Doyles in recent years, those are really great as well, maybe even better. Ann was a big fan of the Kettlewell ICW chart book and always had it right by the hem when she was at the wheel. We like resources that are easy to use in any conditions and for which someone is accountable for what is said. I'd also advise trying to find the old, now out of print of the late Clairborne Young's guides which give a wonderful flavor of what's around you and its history. His web site, cruisersnet, is still running and has updated tools I find easier to use than AC.
We are based in New Bern now, right on the river a half mile or so south of marker 28. New Bern is a nice side trip, one of the most charming towns on the whole trip. If the Pipeliner comes through here I would be happy to spend some time with them and some charts and walk them through it. With a little advance notice I might be able to meet them in Morehead City or Beaufort, and if Ann isn't at her teaching job she might join us. This offer applies to any TF member making the trip.