many beaches are closed, or rather, you are strongly advised not to go into the water, due to too high bacteria levels. as stated in a newspaper: "Officials dealing with closed beaches said the high bacteria levels were likely caused by heavy rains washing contaminants into swimming areas." or, in other words: due to huge amounts of rain in a short amount of time, waste pipes overflow and everyone's waste (i.e. shit) gets into the water. yegh....
no, i have not been in the sea yet, and havent been tempted to do so either (the water is much too cold!!). besides, just came across an article about Massachusetts shark sightings...