[camaraderie]

Middy...I think the OP asked for an opinion on the two boats he was considering and other similar boats. While both your comments and Anthony's were well meaning...neither addressed his question. Anthony questioned his choice of a center cockpit and you questioned the reasonability of the size boat he wanted and made assumptions about how quickly he was going to head to blue water with the boat. He specifically said mainly coastal and Bahamas and POSSIBLY some blue water.
I think we owe it to posters to answer the questions they ask ...then inject all the advice and opinions we want.

As to your specific opinions expressed:
FWIW...I sold my last boat (a 44 Irwin) to a couple who had never sailed before with similar heading south plans. A year later and they are quite comfortable on the boat...have learned a lot (hired a captain for a few lessons), and only other issues have prevented them from heading south. In the meantime...they have saved tens of thousands of dollars and years of time on doing the step by step mode with trade ins and broker fees and depreciation AND they are comfortably living aboard with the space and amenities they desire. A bigger boat is EASIER to learn on...EASIER to live on and SAFER ar sea. No one NEEDS to get a smaller boat to start with and the VAST majority of boats in the Bahamas and Caribe are OVER 40 feet

Anthony...close to 40% of full time cruisers have center cockpits...WHY?...because center cockpits make GREAT live-aboards and 90% of cruising is at anchor! They also have advantages under sail in larger boats in my opinion but that is a personal preference.
I would also say that ketches are easier to handle than big sloops due to sail size and give the captain more choices for different conditions as well as an extra mast of redundancy though they don't go to weather as well as the same boat in a sloop. They get under bridges a bit better than the same boat in a sloop too.