OK, how about this? A bookshelf in the ship, It could serve as both lore books and instructions on different parts of the game. I think that'd keep our "go figure shit out" approach but still give info!
that's a cute idea! it would probably be obvious enough just from looking around the ship, but if you want it to be very clear it's there i would say have the mechanic at the very beginning be like "oh, by the way, i put a few books in your ship telling you how to work things if you need some help." or yknow, something similar. but i think it would probably be fine just letting players find it themselves
i just kind of been boating around (which, by the way, boat is nearly impossible to control- i think it would help if you could rotate the boat while not moving) because the hand is broken, but you know those two big black rocks near the spawn area? the short one has a gacha coin, and the really tall one has a sacred fruit on the top? the quest indicator hand points into the middle of these rocks, constantly, nonstop, but there's nothing there