I know you're revamping this, but I actually quite like that water effect - it looks a bit bright when viewed in the small preview size, but when I opened it up and zoomed in to the full size it was a fantastic feature. I work pretty large for my maps and one thing I've tried (that works pretty well) when fixing that island problem is after playing with the levels - if that doesn't fix the problem - I don't fill in parts I want to be land but rather cut and paste sections of the clouds that have a good edge for a coast line. I'll set up just the coast of the landmasses with edges of "leveled clouds" (that does not sound like a cloud filter that was adjusted with levels). I end by just taking a brush and filling in the interior. No extra islands I don't want, and no weirdly placed interior lakes either. I'm not sure exactly how you're creating your map, but that might be one way to take care of the island problem. It's a lot more labor intensive though, although it leaves a lot of room for being picky (which is what I am, so it works for me ^.^ ). I'd love to see your revamp!

- Alizarine