I made about 15 islands in a single weekend when I first started playing. Then I went out and bought a piece of white project display board and spray painted it in a light blue. I made some darker hightlights as well. Then with a little of that wax tacky stuff i was able to adhere the islands to the board to prevent them from moving during game play but also did not ruin the board underneath so we can move them around each game.
I made the islands out of pink insulation foam, black paint, grey paint, white paint, railroad fine flock, and railroad grade sand and some wood glue. Buying a foam cutter made life wonderful and using a soddering iron to make some more of the intricate shapes and what not made the islands look pretty darn good.
1 hard weekend = hours of pirate playing fun.
P.S. Has anyone picked up South China Seas yet? Is it any good?