I also noticed the sluggish initial loading of textures. Usually the cockpit comes first, but once it's loadad, it works like a breeze, at least here.
Re the water: agree, the animated water looks great! Expecially when using ambient reflections. However, I hope LM continues to refine it. Some wake effects don't work properly, and the effect generally looks awkward and doesn't match the refined look anymore. Same, or even worse, are the wave effects on shorelines. It would be great if the waves and other water effects would be redesigned to match the great new technique used there.
Cheers,
Mark