There was an update yesterday that fixed some problems.
The surf texture at Port Royal is much better now (Darby is now dry again). I also did not lose the background graphics while running through Misty Mire.
I went on using DirectX9 today and did crash IE on trying to teleport to Tortuga. Restarted under OpenGL and everything seemed to work OK for the 1/2 hour or so I played around.
I still do not like the changes to the Port Royal layout, even though the new minimap you access from the compass makes it easier and will be very nice when they get it done for all islands. They have also added a boatwright wench to Port Royal and she is nice to look at.
For beginners there are sand crabs on Port Royal, so a sail to Devil's Anvil is no longer needed.