This reminds me: as fun as the sandbox nature of the game is... I enjoy the crafted adventure maps more. Or the challenge maps where you are just on a floating island and need to figure out the correct progression without wasting resources.

I had a moment like this when I first played Factorio (an excellent game, by the way) and it started me out on a tiny island. It was a much bigger challenge there, considering that Factorio doesn't have swimming or boats!

I've always been a little disappointed that water is a hard barrier in factorio. Off-shore processing rigs or bridges would be a godsend.

A recent (few months ago?) update added a landfill item, which is made from stone and can be used to convert water to land. I think I'm playing the beta channel, so I'm not sure if it's in the default version of the game or not.