Just two things about the beauty of this map.
1) Absent from the Forum for a few months and busy with my life, I came back a few days ago to show some progress on my maps and finally got on a search for this piece of art as I remembered it from my last visit.
2) I've got a folder of inspirational maps in my browser, not many, just a few handpicked beautiful land and city maps. This one directly made it into that folder of pure inspiration and beauty.
That said, I love this map.
If you are going to make a version with ships on it (which would be nice) just take care not to overdo it. The sunken city needs its attention and ships should be placed carefully so they don't steal the attention from the sunken city. Yet I think there's enough place on the water for some pretty ships setting sails or coming in.