With three children all grown up and doing well, we chose to buy a luxury villa on our favorite Island, Saint Martin, in 2019. We were lucky enough to find a place with amazing and breathtaking views of Orient Bay.

Sailing is a major passion in this family, and here in Toronto, a Catalina 36 serves as our summer home. Tennis is another hobby we can't live without. Orient Bay offers us both sailing and tennis. We can rent a Hobie Cat any afternoon at the beach, from Emmanuel at SXM Wind Adventures. We can even sail to Pinel Island, which is a fabulous place to swim, imbibe drinks, and have seafood! In the mornings, we can play tennis, just seven minutes away at the American Tennis Academy: My kids have profited from great coaching with tennis pro Oliver Becaud. So this Island offers great weather, lovely people, and supports our sports addictions.

My eldest child is a 34 year-old, accomplished opera singer - a brilliant coloratura soprano, currently living in Berlin. My middle child is 27 years old, and is a property manager, in charge of 9 apartment buildings. My son is 25, and holds a bachelors degree from the Berkeley School of Music, as well as a bachelors degree from McGill University, major in international relations. He currently works for Crisis Group International, based in Brussels.

For many years, we have operated a luxury rental cottage in Ontario, known as "Sandy Shores Cottage", near Haliburton. We have 100 feet of waterfront on Eagle Lake, a
3-hour drive from Toronto. My staff and I have worked hard, for 25 years, to deliver a fabulous and well-equipped lakeside vacation to our customers.

We already had 22 years of vacation rental management, when we started Crème de la Crème. We are extremely lucky to have Natesha Wolfe and Marcellus Maturin as property manager and builder/fixer. The wonderful experience we offer would not be possible with them.

Villa Crème de la Crème is situated absolutely perfectly. It overlooks 50 or 75 nearby villas, but no villa overlooks us! Our place is perfectly private, and you can wear what you wish, or nothing at all, and it is nobody's business! Our guests treasure that freedom and privacy!

The views to the west, to the north, and to the east are all different, and all simply breathtaking. The sunrise over that ocean, morning after morning, is a gift to the early riser. Morning coffee never tasted so good anywhere else. The different kinds of sunrises, some misty, some golden, some with a brief gentle rainfall, some with mysterious low-lying clouds, well - it feels like every sunrise is different, each one a masterpiece!

Our driving time to the beach is four minutes, but we usually walk. It is 20 minutes to the beach on foot, and maybe a tad more coming back. The views are wonderful the whole way - tall palm trees, magnificent houses, 30 miles of ocean!

Saint Martin, the French side, is a tiny jewel in the Caribbean. The weather is perfect - not too hot. The social climate is very friendly, and we particularly relish seeing contrasting cultures working together, side by side, in harmony. The restaurants are the best anywhere, and the service is warmly welcoming and cheerful. The Island is small, which is great: you can drive around the whole place in an hour. You will adore all the little towns you visit, each one with its own flavour. The mountains are so gorgeous and dramatic, everywhere you drive. And - there are 37 beaches you can drive to on the Island!

Saint Martin offers sailing, tennis, volleyball, kite-skiing, zip-lining, live music, hiking, dancing, astoundingly good dining, and some of the nicest and finest people you will ever know.

A unique and wonderful collection of DVD classic movies

Grand Piano, of course!

The best equipped kitchen you will ever want...

Large stylish thermos to keep your beverage cold all day

Our charming resident iguanas up on the hill