For the "advanced" telescopes, ERAS has a Mod Option (Options screen, lower right "Mod Options" button. The first setting is for "Realistic Spyglasses" Set that option to Off to see the additional information the best telescopes provide.
I am aware of the positioning when leaving some shores, that force you to turn 180 degrees before setting sail; I remember several of them and it was always a slight irritation when encountered. It is probably a locator orientation value that needs adjustment for those shores. I will put that on my list to research and if I resolve it, I can probably apply it to all COAS-based games since they share the same island locator files. Thanks for the list of problem shores, because I never noted them myself, so will save the trouble of identifying them.