Thanx for the comments guys. The curious squares are supposed to be sunken ancient ruins...the effect worked about half as well as I would have liked. Should have darkened the lines a little more...still the effect is there in person...you just have to look a little harder.
The canoe rules have proven wildly popular with the local ruffians and will form the basis of the vehicle rules...watch for Rowboat! and Battle Barge to follow. Also, rules for water were needed...so, we wrote those up as well. Shallow and Deep water are the classifications. Only played a half dozen game so far but with the amount of fun generated watch out for vehicle rules in a coming expansion or possibly as a free-bee...guess it will depend on when they are ironed out fully.
I'll try and get a few shots of a game in progress next time I'm playing. Also, may have a cool prototype canoe template whipped up by then...