Great game!
As everyone else has mentioned, the artstyle and animations are gorgeous. The world map looks especially amazing, and the character sprite looks really good too. My favorite detail is how you transform from a ship to a band of adorable pirates when walking over the world map.
I do have a few visual critiques. The whirlpool sprite feels quite static, the UI could do with some animation, and I think the more things should've gotten that white outline shader (specifically those aforementioned whirlpools). But even with these complaints, I'm giving this a 5 on visuals because everything else is just so damn good.
Visuals aside, I unfortunately found the gameplay a bit… boring? The concept is fine—carefully maneuvering from start to finish—but the player moves soooo slooooow. Moving through levels can be a bit of a slog, especially in the longer stretches without any obstacles. I also would've liked to see some more progression within the mechanics. This is possible even with only 3 levels imo. E.g., you could start with stationary whirpools and only introduce moving ones in, say, level 2. As things stand, there isn't really much of a difference between level 1 and level 3 aside from level 3 being a lot longer.
This is more of a side note, but I wish you had to move across the world map to get from level to level. Again, the world map is beautiful and packed with fun little details, so it's a shame you just skip over it entirely as you play the game. Moving from level to level could be a bit of a pain as things currently stand though, so I'd suggest either raising movement speed or bringing levels close together.
But between the charming artstyle and the boat maneuvering concept, there's definitely a base for a great game here. With faster movement, more obstacles, and UI polish, you could totally get there.
(oh yeah and also I liked the sound effects a lot; good stuff)