Underway again !

After a wonderful month in Stuart, it was time to venture south.  We said a temporary goodbye to our friends Dave and Joanne this morning and set a course south.  Not too far the first day though.  We made the 7 mile trek back to the intracoastal waterway, then turned south for an approximate 5 mile run to Peck Lake.  Peck Lake is more of a wide spot in the ICW than a Lake, but hey, I didn't name it!  There is a nice anchorage on the side of the ICW and with the 20-30 mile winds today, the short trip was just fine for us.  What Peck Lake does offer is access by boat only to a isolated stretch of beach.  After anchoring, we watched to see if our anchor was holding, ate lunch, watched to see if our anchor was holding, had a Captain Morgan and Coke, watched to see if our anchor was holding, and checked our chartplotter track to see if our anchor was holding......we finally determined.....our anchor was holding!   In our 45 day journey south so far, this was the first time we anchored.   We managed to stay on mooring balls prior to today.  We have limited experience anchoring, and there is always a little more stress involved, particularly when there are high winds.  So, with the confidence that we could leave TIKA and find her in the same place when we returned, we took the dinghy to the beach on the ICW side, walked about 200 ft to the ocean beach side where we had miles of beautiful water and sand to ourselves.  We collected some shells, walked the beach, dipped toes in the water, and came back to the boat (still in the same place) for a much needed Corona light.  All in all, a successful first day back on the water.