A newly married couple tired of living on aeroplanes and out of suitcases are set for a new adventure as caretakers of the Great Blasket Island this year.
Camille Rosenfeld (26) from Minnesota in the US and James Hayes (37) from Tralee, Co Kerry will take up the role for a six-month period from April 1st until the end of September.
The pair met at the Burren College of Art in September 2021 while James was fulfilling a residency as a visual artist and Camille was on a semester from the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, where she was studying art and business.
James, who originally worked as an architect in London after finishing his studies at University College Dublin, is looking forward to a slower pace of life on the island.
“I think both Camille and I feel that we have been living our lives on aeroplanes travelling over and back to the US and out of suitcases with no set familiarity to our lives over the past three years and longer,” he explains. Camille adds: “It will provide the time to take stock, immerse ourselves in island life and start the next chapter or new book of living our lives together in one place.”
The couple married on Carson Beach in Boston on June 7th and returned to Ireland to live in Tralee as James continues his visual arts career and Camille finishes a postgraduate course while working in the energy industry.
Knowing they will have no running water or electricity and face the prospect of extreme weather swings on the island is not fazing the couple as both love nature, sea, camping and hillwalking.
Alice Hayes runs the accommodation on the island with her partner Billy O’Connor. The couple own three cottages that are rented out to holidaymakers as well as a coffee shop. They will be handing the running of it all over to the newlyweds for the summer.
“We are riding on a wave of excitement since Alice and Billy O’Connor told us we were chosen as the caretakers a short time ago,” says James.
When Alice and Billy first advertised for caretakers in January 2019 they received up to 80,000 applications from people all around the world.
The newlyweds had applied for the job last year too but in the end the timings didn’t suit, given they planned to wed overseas.
“When we saw that Camille and James had applied again for the positions for this year, we were delighted as they are just so enthusiastic and committed to outdoor life,” Alice says.
A video interview followed in late January and they got the job.
“We have no fears of anything around island life, not even the large volumes of seals that make their home on the beaches there, we will deal with any issues as they come along, even the diverse weather which can play havoc with sailings carrying supplies and people, out from the mainland. It will all be centred around teamwork,” say the couple, who have been fervently reading books on those who were born, raised and lived on the Great Blasket Island before it became uninhabited.
“We feel very lucky and so grateful that we have been given this opportunity. So we will be throwing ourselves into everything that this experience has to offer us,” the pair said.
There are no permanent residents on the island, located nearly 5km off the coast of Dingle, Co Kerry, which was deserted in the 1950s due to emergency services being unable to reach it in storms.
