Well, by going in your inventory and clicking on “Abominable Salts” in the Academic category, you can convert them to Memories of Distant Shores.
50 will get you 10, or 500 will get you 105.
As for whether or not to use the wiki, that is a personal call. I will state that if you insist on avoiding the wiki altogether, please send me a message before you leave for a different location across the Zee after Venderbight. There are a couple of things you will need on that later trip that cannot be acquired at your destination.
I rather enjoy heading to Zee, but I’ve a Majestic Pleasure Yacht, so I tend to have profitable runs already.