You do not have to be concerned about opening the boat shop on Seadog Cove until you reach level 6. You will not be able to purchase any new boats until that level. Decorative figureheads are purely cosmetic and do not offer any additional benefits.
Fishing
Fishing is the best way to make money early in the game. Fish as often as possible and sell your catch at the fishmonger's stall. Every island except your home island has fishing locations. Fish will respawn in six hours, as compared to twelve hours required for foraged items. If a fish is about to get away or break your line, exit the mini-game by tapping the the red X in the upper right corner. Your attempt to catch that fish will be canceled, but the fish will remain in the water. You can then cast again for another attempt. The fish's attitude will change with each attempt, giving you a chance to change a fighting fish to one that is more temperamental. Type types of fish found are static once spawned. For example, when you enter an area with a Rubyfish in a certain location, if you leave the island and return later a Rubyfish will still appear there. However, if you catch that particular fish and allow it to respawn, a different type may appear. Use this to your advantage when fishing for a particular type. For example, because Stonefish appear at night, catch fish during the afternoon to have more chances of a Stonefish to appear later that night. Stonefish appear after 8 p.m., after your character begins carrying a lantern. They often appear at the east side of Seadog Cove, the eastern side of Bullhorn Farm, and occasionally near the dock at the southern edge of Stonecutt Isle and on the eastern beach of Larona Village.
Food stall
Do not worry about the food stall early in the game. Although it can help you earn money, it requires a lot of investment. You will need to purchase the stall as well as buy and build another trader's house. Furthermore, in order to have anything valuable to sell you will have to learn cooking recipes which also require money. It will take some time for you to get a return on your investment. If you need immediate money, it is not a good way to obtain it.
Inventory
Your starting inventory space is very limited with a twenty item capacity. In order to save space, leave discovered items on the ground until needed. For example, if a strawberry was hidden under a bush, leave it there. It will remain intact for over a day, even if the bush grows back. This also is true for fruit, worms, vegetables, etc. Crafted items such as planks, milk, and eggs, will remain at their location indefinitely. After constructing the Swap Shop, use it as storage for clothing and furniture items. You can place your items for sale, but at an unreasonably high price. Simply take an item off the market when you need it. The architect's plans for the warehouse becomes available after you start Emilia's quests. Build it as soon as possible to gain 35 slots of storage space. Building the warehouse requires 1,800 gold for the blueprint, 4 Stonefish, 4 planks (12 driftwood), 1 sawdust (3 driftwood), and 1 purple paint (2 grapes and 1 blue apple). The recipe for sawdust costs 100 gold, and the recipe for purple paint costs 200 gold. Upgrading your inventory requires 50 pearls, the game's premium currency. You will start with only 30 pearls and it will take some time to collect 20 more pearls outside of an in-app purchase.
Mini-games rewards
Some items, such as root remover, are given as random rewards from any medium or hard difficulty mini-game. However other items are specific to a mini-game. The following mini-games will reward with the corresponding items under easy and medium difficulties when completed in first place.
The fastest way to earn money early in the game is to catch fish and sell them. Stock the fishmonger as often as possible. As soon a fish has been sold, return there and restock. Try to catch Golden Pike followed by Rubyfish. Save Stonefish for construction projects. Do not participate in expensive quests. The only disadvantage for turning down a quest is forfeiting its reward. If someone asks you to buy new clothes, just refuse them. They will usually give you less gold than what it cost to purchase the clothing. Only take quests that reward more than they cost. You do not have to complete quests that you accepted. If you took a unprofitable quest, just leave it outstanding. It will time out and disappear after twelve hours. Check in at the Larona Village town hall to get rewards from completing achievements. The yellow booth behind the mayor's desk will sparkle when a coin or pearl reward is available. Play sailing mini-games. If you finish in first place you will get an item that you can sell. If not, you will still earn a few coins. If you are about to stop playing for awhile, use your sailing energy to get those rewards. The Fast Lane and Feeding Frenzy mini-games will reward you with items that can be sold at the Fishmonger's stall.
Movement
Use single taps to move. Your character will travel to that destination using the shortest route possible, as long as a green circle appears where you tapped. If a red "X" appears where you tapped, it indicates that the location is not reachable. This can be due to an item you can be removed, such as a bush. Either remove the obstacle or tap in another location nearby. To quickly travel across an island, drag the screen to your destination and position the screen so its nearest entrance is barely visible before tapping. If done correctly, characters should teleport from their location to just before the entrance, then walk to the target location.
Night
There are a few things that change at night, between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. Besides the appearance of Stonefish, the farm will close making it impossible to harvest vegetables or feed the livestock. Random smuggling quests may occasionally appear. Some challenges will increase in difficulty due to the change in lighting. Smuggling quests can be failed if you become caught by searchlights three or more times.
Sailing
Sailing mini-games can be started while traveling between islands in exchange for one unit energy. You can bypass them for no energy by using the airship. The sailing mini-game will give you the chance to win rare items such as tree removers or dynamite. You can refresh sailing mini-games without spending pearls by checking every available island. The games and difficulty level will change between each one. If no islands have what you need, travel to an island by airship, then exit back to your boat. After entering the sailing map, all the mini-games will change, allowing you to check each island again for what you are looking for. In the sailing challenges, your current lane will be highlighted with lighter-colored streak that displays the entire length ahead of you. You will be able to tell if obstacles are in your current lane if they are in the highlighted area. This is very useful when the lane curves. You do not have to wait until you have moved over to an adjacent lane before moving back. If you accidentally swiped in the wrong direction, immediately swipe in the opposite direction. Your boat will return to its original lane without consequences. The red bar in the upper right corner indicates your current speed. When full, you are at maximum speed.
Boat shop...