What i always do, once i have some troll armor, is run the shores of whatever landmass i'm on, tracing it's general outline on my map. Whenever i feel adventurous i will further explore the unmapped areas. If there is too much water between your current landmass and what might be a new one, build a bench at the shore and mark it on your map.

It takes a while to truly understand that Valheim's exploration isn't as similar to Minecraft as one might initially think. You wanna send all that precious metal to your base? Better get used to sailing. I HATED this at first, but the sense of survival and accomplishment is really inspiring when you succeed.......also crushing if you fail. Go big or go home.