January in New England is lovely but cold.
In New Zealand, where Christmas is a summertime holiday, January is just one more fine time for catching a wave along many sand beaches. (Bring lots of sunscreen.)
Both sharks and Johnny Depp are said to be lurking around Coromandel Peninsula now, but I think you have to swim much deeper than we do to see the former and run with a much faster crowd to catch sight of the latter.