A VHF radio only gets about 20 miles of coverage. While you may not "need" anything more it would seem to be prudent to have SSB. Especially since it can be used for more than emergency communication, like grabbing GRIB weather files and talking with your weather router if you get one...if you are looking to save money a sat phone would not be in the cards IMHO
Good luck ! Have helped deliver boats on that route several times!
