"The Inland Sea is a dangerous one unless the ship has a pilot of the greatest skill and one who thoroughly knows the channels," wrote my great-grandfather on his passage through the sea in 1900.

My own experience sailing it, however, is quite different. On a 40-foot (12-meter) sailboat with an auto-helm, depth sounder and a Global Positioning System, we don't have the worries my great-grandfather had. Instead, we have different problems, the main one being garbage. Up until now, we have had to dive into the sea three times to release garbage such as plastic bags that became clogged in the boat's propeller. The Inland Sea offers an amazing variety of garbage parading past the boat as if it were a Thai floating market. Standing on the bow doing plastic bag patrol, I found myself not only warning of plastic, but also yelling: "Get the net out! Oranges on the starboard side, potatoes on the port! Anyone need an extra sandal? Hey, what's that? A brand new mag wheel!"

It was beginning to sound like Christmas.