USVI-On-Line

Hi liamsaunt!

Thanks for all the great info. you contribute to this forum.

I have a question for you about Cinnamon Tarn. In your villa review you mention that this villa is located off of John Head Rd., so the drive to it will be bumpy. To get to this villa, do you take Centerline Rd. & then turn off at John Head Rd.? If so, how far do you have to drive on John Head Rd. & how does it compare to say, Calabash Boom?

Thanks,

RJ

Hi RJ,

Yes, that is right. The John Head Road is a left off of Centerline, it is the road where the big "Virgin Islands National Park" sign is. To get to Cinnamon Tarn, you continue down that road past the Catherineberg ruins, then take the first left. It is marked with a green gate that says "Flamboyant Road." It is kind of a steep and sharp left, and you drive over some metal pipes as you go up. The gates for Tarn and Le Chateau are right there.

The way to Tarn is not too bad, really, because it's not that far down the road. Some of the other villas are a lot further down, past the switchbacks and so on, and the condition of the road deteriorates the further down you go. We drove the whole road once, and could not believe it when we saw the gate for Hakuna Matata! When we got home we had to look up their villa page to see if the ride down to the house is mentioned (it's not).

I can't compare the road to Calabash Boom. I've never been up there. From descriptions I've read it sounds like Calabash Boom is more difficult to drive, but maybe someone else can confirm.

Thanks Liamsaunt!

That answered my question perfectly. It sounds like for that kind of view, both Tarn & Le Chateau are pretty easy to get to. (I just love those high-up Northshore views.)

Next time we go to St. John, we'll have to go all the way down from Centerline Rd. to the North Shore Rd. along John Head Rd. just to see how it compares to Calabash Boom. Calabash Boom is very long with a lot of switchbacks, but it wasn't bad when we were there.
I thought it was quite an adventure & I definitely would stay at a place along that road where we would not have to be coming & going constantly, cause the drive could get a little old. I've heard that the condition of Calabash Boom Rd. depends a lot on what the weather has been like, if it's full of ruts or not so bad.

That's funny that you ran into Hakuna Matata & found out what an adventure it would be for a bunch of people to try to come & go on a not-so-easy access road. Well, it must be quite private, huh? It looks beautiful.

Anyway, thanks again for your help.