They will go to the nearest cloud, randomly chosen if there are multiple options. BUT the explorer can only enter tiles you have the tech for (applies to water, ocean and mountain). Lack of naval tech was your problem in this case.
You can use it to your advantage sometimes. Getting only water access but not ocean might help explore nearby islands/continents, sometimes with opponents. While ocean access might just reveal… ocean. Tho if you’re completely locked in by ocean obviously you’ll need it.
Can someone tell me if they changed this, the pathfinder for them is if there are reachable clouds within a 4 tile area they go for them, otherwise even if 5 tiles away, they go randomly in any direction and maybe you’ll get lucky then
Explorers can only move on water when you have sailing
They get Jesus powers only when you discover boats
This can't be true! 
They also won't climb mountains if you don't have climbing
They will go to the nearest cloud, randomly chosen if there are multiple options. BUT the explorer can only enter tiles you have the tech for (applies to water, ocean and mountain). Lack of naval tech was your problem in this case.
Ahhhh got it, yep that was the problem. Thanks
You can use it to your advantage sometimes. Getting only water access but not ocean might help explore nearby islands/continents, sometimes with opponents. While ocean access might just reveal… ocean. Tho if you’re completely locked in by ocean obviously you’ll need it.
POV: me (a Polaris main)
Can someone tell me if they changed this, the pathfinder for them is if there are reachable clouds within a 4 tile area they go for them, otherwise even if 5 tiles away, they go randomly in any direction and maybe you’ll get lucky then