One more suggestion might be, if your schedule permits, is to do your exploring and "getting to know the lake" cruising during off peak hours, like Monday-Friday (especially early morning or late afternoon)and weekends after 3PM. There seems to be less traffic on the water during these times and some of the boats can be a bit intimidating. On the other hand when there is more traffic on the lake you can see where other boats go and pretty much follow their lead (hoping that they know where they are going, of course..nothing is a good substitute for a chart, however).
I can't stress having a chart enough (as well as binoculars) If you haven't already done so, you can take a navigation class with the US PowerSquadron and learn navigational skills as well as how to read a chart. Very valuable.
www.usps.org.
As mentioned above, program the Marine Patrol phone number into your cell phone as well as whatever boat towing service you might have ,SeaTow or TowBoatUS.
Good luck and have fun!