Re: A more simple way?

Butch -

If there's money in your budget for it, you couldn't do better than Red Giant's Tsunami:

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/psunami/

I believe it's a couple of hundred bucks, and it allows you to animate just the water part (you can do calm lake water as well as billowing waves) and use a different image for the background, which is what it appears you're trying to do.

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com