I loved the writing. Especially the introduction. But also the nightly episodes. A very interesting story unfolding!
I did not like, that the only way to deal with merchants started with lying. Whether they had golden or iridescent or whatever kind of a flag, none of them wanted to deal with me, unless I lied.
There seems to be an interesting underlying mechanic under it, and I saved the game to possibly continue at a later point, but even the great writing that I wanted to find out more of did not get me to want to go trough the same interactions. Just when closing the game, I clicked for the hint of "don't underestimate the fish" so I guess there is something more to discover in the interactions. Same choice, same outcome, can have mechanic depth that I've yet to uncover. Right now it felt like tedious grinding instead of experiencing the story. But guess sailing can get repetitive and tedious?
I'm still intrigued by the mystery, and whether it is good and worth it to go to Safe Havens. I got to the point where it said "I'm halfway to Safe Haven's".
Great job on a first game submission! Some art or exploration mechanic for the gold finding might work for the game?
I really liked how the text appeared, it was nice to read, and as dialogue options it flowed technically in a nice-to-interact-with-text way.