Notice how by the end of the show, everything had returned to exactly the way it was at the start.
Well as long as there's a status quo, things are better than what they could be - in the mainland. But for a moment, think about a case were they're driving two to three knots and they hit a floater. In this case, the floater didn't find a boarding deck at the rear. It couldn't get worse than getting stuck in the pump hole.
If a floater or a group of them gets in the boat, Abigail's crew has to do everything the can in order to survive. If a major storm develops in the pacific, they're going to have to find a safe harbour and things can get ugly very easily, very fast. But, for the safety reason I think Abigail is a better choice than getting stuck with Dale's bus - on their way to Herhel's farm. In the same time it's also a coffin - if that said "safe harbour" is overran by a hoard, and there's really no other choice to go elsewhere.
He must be getting worried when that will be.
Strand tries to see the future, but he doesn't see what he should be watching. He doesn't understand that this mystical place in Baja, Mexico can already be overran by some other gang, or a hoard. So, forcing that survivor in that little dinky he's not seeking information, same stuff they got from the logbook. In fact, he isn't learning that the game is over. Zombies won! No replays available.
The silence in the other end of the line should be a wake up call about the reality, but he ignored it, and forced himself to be the idiot. Not the man who can see the game. Maybe the reason for that is because, the game has changed. It's all about survival from here on forever, until they can find a settlement like the Alexandria Safe-zone.
The problem they have is: they are skipping the land complely and diminishing the possibility of finding proper survivors, like the one he dumped in the boat. They need all lives they can get, and they need a doctor, because we know how effed up that situation can be, if they don't have one to deal with the emergencies.
Sorry to lend the new BSG here, but I believe Adama knew from the get-go that the game was all about survival, and it was played in the numbers - if he didn't, Baltar had no doubt about it. And those numbers are so small at the Pacific Ocean - just like they were in the BSG's space after cyclon's attack.
You can go up and down the coastline, and it's same story everywhere they go. So heading over the Pacific (to Hawaii) is a gamble Strand didn't want to make. He needs a bigger vessel for that thing. In fact, they all need a bigger boat, a proper one to survive out there.
Abigail is just too small for the prospect of long term survival. But they're not making it absolutely clear in the show. And, they don't have a strong leader. There are too many Alphas in this group.
Who would have to go, for them to get straight with the game?