Readers' Choice: Vote for Your Favorite Place to Swim on Martha's Vineyard

Where is your favorite place to take a dip on Martha's Vineyard?

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Readers' Choice: Nominate Your Favorite Place for People Watching

Nominate your favorite place to People Watch in the comments; it might be voted a Readers' Choice later this summer.

If it's near and dear to your heart, Patch wants to know—tell us about the area's best place to people watch. Nominate your favorite people watching place in the comments below. Once you do, Patch will officially add them to the running for best of the best—and later this summer, they may beat out the competition to become the number one Readers' Choice. We will take nominations through July 9; voting begins July 23.

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Seth's Pond Re-Opened to Swimming

The West Tisbury pond pond has been given a clean bill of health, one day after it was closed due to bacteria.

The town of West Tisbury re-opened Seth’s Pond to swimming on Thursday, one day after the pond was closed due to elevated bacteria levels. Tests taken earlier this week showed the pond had increased levels of enterococci, indicator organisms that may indicate the presence of sewage material. A number of island beaches in Oak Bluffs, West Tisbury and Chilmark have been intermittently closed in the past month due to the bacteria, the cause of which continues to confound officials.  

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Seth's Pond Closed Due to Bacteria

Enterococci bacteria continues to close beaches around the Island.

The town of West Tisbury has closed Seth's Pond, following water-testing results that indiciated high levels of enterococci bacteria. The move follows weeks of intermittent closures at various island beaches in West Tisbury, Oak Bluffs and Chilmark. The latest such closing occured at the pond at Lucy Vincent Beach on July 28. It was re-opened one day later. According to the Massachusetts Bureau of Environmental Health (BEH), enterococci are indicator organisms that may indicate the presence of bacteria found in sewage. A complete list of all water samples taken on Martha’s Vineyard beaches, as well as an up-to-date list of beach closures can be found on the BEH’s website.

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Coast Guard Rescues Man off Lambert's Cove

A crewman became entangled in a line and fell overboard a lobster boat on Wednesday morning.

A U.S. Coast Guard crew transported an 18-year-old man to shore after he fell from a lobster boat off the coast of Lambert’s Cove on Wednesday morning. The man’s leg became entangled in a line and was pulled overboard, said the Coast Guard, who were notified of the incident at approximately 11:35 a.m. The man spent approximately two minutes underwater and was unresponsive when crewmembers aboard the Fairhaven-based Helen Irene vessel recovered him. The crew administered CPR and revived the man. The Coast Guard dispatched a 25-foot response boat and transported the man and his crew to the Woods Hole station. He was then taken to Falmouth Hospital. His condition is unknown. “Having someone on board who knew CPR may have saved this man’s life…

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Julie Wesolowski

9:48 am on Thursday, July 28, 2011

Oh that is so frightening! Thanks God for the Coast Guard!   more ›

All Island Beaches Re-Opened

More than 10 days of intermittent beach closings due to bacteria have come to an end—at least for now.

For the first time since July 11 all Martha’s Vineyard beaches are now open to swimming. On Friday afternoon the town of Oak Bluffs re-opened three beaches, Pay Beach, the lagoon side of Eastville Beach and Medeiros Cove, that had been closed due to elevated bacteria levels. Inkwell Beach in Oak Bluffs was re-opened one day earlier. The beaches had tested positive for enterococci, organisms that may indicate the presence of sewage material.

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Holly Nadler

8:55 am on Saturday, July 23, 2011

Michael's right. If we're going to become known as "that place with the unhealthy water", we're finished as a resort.   more ›

Inkwell Beach Re-Opened

Three other Oak Bluffs beaches remain closed due to bacteria levels.

The town of Oak Buffs has re-opened Inkwell Beach. The move comes one day after the town was forced to close the beach for the second time in just over a week due to elevated bacteria levels. Three other beaches, Pay Beach, Eastville Beach near the drawbridge and Medeiros Cove, remain closed. The four beaches were initially closed on July 12, after water there tested positive for high levels of enterococci. Enterococci are indicator organisms that may indicate the presence of sewage material. Three of the beaches, excluding Medeiros Cove, were re-opened, only to be ordered closed again by the state.

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Oak Bluffs Beaches Closed Again

Here we go again!

Four Oak Bluffs beaches have been closed again due to high bacteria levels. The beaches include: Inkwell Beach, Pay Beach, Medeiros Cove and the lagoon side of Eastville Beach near the drawbridge. The beaches were initially closed on July 12, after water there tested positive for high levels of enterococci. Enterococci are indicator organisms that may indicate the presence of sewage material. Three of the four beaches, excluding Medeiros Cove, were then re-opened over the weekend. Several West Tisbury beaches that were also closed due to high bacteria levels and then re-opened remain open to swimmers. A full set of lab data from each of the beache's can be viewed on the state's Bureau of Environmental Health website.  

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West Tisbury Beaches Re-Opened

Closed last week due to bacteria, Long Point, Lambert's Cove and Tisbury Great Pond are now back in business.

All West Tisbury braches have been re-opened for swimming, following closures announced last week due to elevated bacteria levels. Lambert's Cove, Seth's Pond, Seven Gates Salt Works, Long Cove Pond, the ocean at Long Point Wildlife Refuge, and Tisbury Great Pond had all been closed to swimmers after the waters there tested positive for high levels of enterococci, indicator organisms that may indicate the presence of bacteria found in sewage Five clean water samples from consecutive days were required to re-open the beaches. Seth’s Pond, Seven Gates Salt Works and Long Cove Pond were re-opened late last week; Lambert’s Cove, the ocean at Long Point Wildlife Refuge and Tisbury Great Pond were re-opened on Tuesday. The West Tisbury beach …

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