Originally posted by loppantorkel:

Best thing to do is to sail by day and have a reasonable exit plan - someplace reasonably close and safe to steer your boat toward, if you get surprised by a serpent.

Cool. Thank you!
That's how I've been doing things already, but I had no idea if it actually made a difference or not; I was just doing what made sense to me without any game knowledge. LOL

It has been kind of fun watching the shore line for a ruined structure of some kind each time the sun was approaching setting, so that I could make a quick camp to rest the night with just minimal additional construction.