I had a moment like this when I first played Factorio (an excellent game, by the way) and it started me out on a tiny island. It was a much bigger challenge there, considering that Factorio doesn't have swimming or boats!
A recent (few months ago?) update added a landfill item, which is made from stone and can be used to convert water to land. I think I'm playing the beta channel, so I'm not sure if it's in the default version of the game or not.
