There is a specific moment — somewhere between the first firework and the second glass — when you realize you're ringing in the New Year in a linen shirt, outdoors, and the people you left behind are scraping windshields. We spent New Year's on island, and it rearranged our sense of how the holiday is supposed to feel.
The evening, as it actually went
No tickets, no ballroom, no eleven-dollar coat check. Dinner ran long because everything on island runs long in the best way, and by late evening we were back on the East End with a bottle we'd been saving. The fireworks came up over the treeline right from where we stood — you can see the red roofs of the resort buildings in the photo, palms in silhouette, the whole sky doing its thing.
That neon sign has been in more of our family photos than any of us will admit. It felt right that it made it into the New Year's set too.
If you're thinking about a holiday trip
Two honest notes. First: the holiday weeks are the most-booked weeks of the entire year, everywhere on island — restaurants, rental cars, boats, and yes, villas. If New Year's on St. Thomas is on your list, the booking window is summer, not November. Second: the weather is the best of the whole year — winter trades keep it in the high 70s at night, and the humidity of the fall is long gone.
The islands do New Year's without pretending to be somewhere else. Steel drums instead of a countdown clock. Fireworks over water instead of over a parking garage. And on January 1st, instead of a gray morning, you get a beach.
We keep our calendars open early for the following summer — the deals page always lists the discounted open weeks. Holiday weeks go first and never make it there, so if that's the trip you want, book direct and book early.