Sarah Slater
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.
They have been living a nomadic type lifestyle and are now ready to “copper fasten” their relationship when they move to the island.
James, who originally worked as an architect in London after finishing his studies at University College Dublin.
“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 explained.
Camille added: "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 nor electricity and face the prospect of extreme weather swings on the island is not phasing the couple as both are keen nature, sea, camping and hillwalking lovers.
“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,” added James.
Alice Hayes runs the accommodation on the island with her partner Billy O’Connor. The couple own three cottages which are rented out to holiday makers and a coffee shop on the island but the caretakers will be alone on the island full-time.
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 newly-weds had applied for the job last year too but in the end the timings didn’t suit.
“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 said.
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,” said couple who have been fervently reading books on those who were born, raised, lived on and left their lives behind them when the Great Blasket Island 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 admit.
There are no permanent residents on the island, which was deserted in the 1950s due to emergency services being unable to reach it in storms.
Located about three miles off the coast of Dingle, Co Kerry, the Great Blasket Island is home to diverse animal, sea and plant life.
