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At the base of the large wooden trophy shaped like a key, the engraving identifies the winner by her "hunter" name: "Miss Peregrine." But at the awards ceremony for the first edition of the treasure hunt "Le secret des alizés" (The Secret of the Trade Winds), held on Saturday, January 31, at the Gouverneur educational farm, Juliette Rémi could no longer hide behind her pseudonym. Although the word "hide" is hardly appropriate, since "Miss Peregrine" is the name of the company owned by this photographer from Saint Barthélemy!
In any case, last Saturday, Juliette Rémi received the winner's trophy for the great treasure hunt conceived and created by Sandra Baptiste and Fabrice Querrard. It was a victory that could be considered a feat, if only because of the length of the hunt: nine months!
Launched in April 2025, the challenge, which was punctuated with often highly complex puzzles, attracted several hundred participants. Aimed at adults living in Saint-Barthélemy, the game offered the opportunity to "discover the island in a new light." Only twenty-one people managed to complete it. And among them, Juliette Rémi was the fastest to solve the puzzles across all the challenges. But it wasn't without its difficulties.
Hunters put to the test
"They were all complicated, at different levels," says the winner. "They (Sandra Baptiste and Fabrice Querrard) were very good! They both have different ways of thinking, so I also had to understand how they thought in order to solve the puzzles."
For Juliette, the hardest part was always finding the solution to the initial puzzle. "After that, the sub-puzzles seemed simpler and easier to understand," she says. Because yes, it wasn't enough to find one solution to complete a stage. Throughout the hunt, Sandra Baptiste and Fabrice Querrard opened up a multitude of paths before the participants' eyes. Reversed texts, anagrams, GPS points, Greek, Morse code... The designers spared the hunters nothing! Whether they had a solid knowledge of the island or not.
Juliette Rémi admits that without the help of those around her, she would probably not have been able to finish the hunt. "We played as a group, formed a small team, and went all the way to the end with two friends," she explains. Those friends were Caroline Nicole and Natacha Troncale, who tied for second place!
What's more, solving the puzzles wasn't something you could do just by sitting at home and thinking. Admittedly, the imaginative minds of Sandra Baptiste and Fabrice Querrard forced the hunters to conduct online research and rack their brains to find the links between the clues and locations on the island, but they then had to go out into the field to verify their findings and validate them.
At La Pigeonnière!
"I remember the second riddle, which mentioned a spring, children's laughter, etc.," recalls Juliette. "The spring was obviously Colombier. The children's laughter meant that it was probably near the school. We ended up at La Pigeonnière! Even though I'm from the island, I had never been there before." It was another way to discover the island, just as the designers had promised.
"I learned a lot about the island," says Juliette. "My mother helped me. My brother took part and finished in the top twenty! What sticks in my mind is the mutual support, even though it was a game and there was also competition. We often ran into the other players." Especially during the last stage, the seventh. "On Sunday morning at 8 a.m.," Juliette smiles, "almost all of us in the top twenty met at the educational farm to look for the QR code!"
With 2,900 points, Juliette Rémi has her name engraved on the trophy and pockets €1,493. "Which corresponds to the date on which Saint Barthélemy was discovered," smiles Fabrice Querrard mischievously. The winner plans to spend her prize money at a travel agency. But before treating herself to a vacation, she also gave a reward to Sandra Baptiste and Fabrice Querrard. Hand-delivered? Certainly not! Juliette Rémi sent them a puzzle to solve. "So they could find little gifts," she says with a smile. That same evening, the two creators of "Secret des alizés" had found their prizes. They're not easily fooled...
