Meet the caretakers of Great Blasket Island: ‘I have never craved an ice cream this much’
They met on a London Tube, but they left the bright lights of the city to become caretakers on the Great Blasket Island. Emily Campbell and Daniel Regan tell Caroline Delaney about life without WiFi, electricity and warm water
Emily Campbell and Daniel Regan are the caretakers on the Great Blasket Island. Pictures: Dan Linehan
Sun, 16 Jul, 2023 - 18:05
Caroline Delaney
They are livin’ the dream — paid to move to an island with seals, lambs, and basking sharks for company. Off to bed when the sun goes down and waking up refreshed each morning. And if they could only get an ice cream on a sunny day, then they’d have it all, say Emily and Dan, the newest caretakers of Great Blasket Island.
The Kerry island needs two ‘caretakers’ every year for the busy summer period — duties include managing the coffee shop and a handful of holiday cottages from April until October.
Emily Campbell from Bandon and her partner, Dan Regan from London, are the 2023 caretakers.
And while they met in one of the most urban environments possible — on the last Tube home one night in London — they are delighted to have this remote island job.
“We’re loving it ... in some ways, it feels like we’ve always been here,” says Emily, 27.
This isn’t just a summer job either, they will be here for six months overall — they sleep above the coffee shop and use the coffee shop kitchen and toilets as their own. Dan will celebrate his 30th birthday here in September.
The job spec definitely can’t be accused of sugar-coating the work: “Please be aware this is not a holiday job. The season can get VERY busy and you will be on your feet for most of the day... Please note the Island can get VERY busy. This is an intense position and caretakers must acknowledge that they are on an Island with very little resources.”
Emily Campbell and Daniel Regan: "We’re loving it ... in some ways, it feels like we’ve always been here"
Even so, you might wonder if the duo was surprised by any of the deprivations or work involved; for example, there is no hot running water, wifi, or electricity.
“Not at all,” says Dan: “There is a fair bit of hard work but it is as advertised. And there is a good balance really, we have lovely weather and then there are a few days where we can’t get out.”
“It’s been fabulous, we definitely don’t regret it,” adds Emily, who worked as a children’s nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
It was Emily who spotted the job ad and sent it on to Dan, expecting him to say no. But he agreed they should go for it.
There was a good bit of competition so they were afraid to get their hopes up — they were also busy doing up Dan’s flat in London at the time. Then with six weeks to go they found out they were the successful candidates.
“We were doing 16-hour days then, trying to get the flat ready — we drafted in family and all to help,” says Emily.
Emily Campbell and Daniel Regan, in the frame at Great Blasket Island
Even though Dan grew up in suburban London, he says he’s definitely more suited to country living. He’s a keen fisherman and they have both been travelling and camping and working abroad.
Emily laughs that while the pair have been together for two years now, it all got real very quickly: “There is a water spring that we can use as a backup for fresh drinking water and it needed to be cleared out so it was funny to see Dan getting stuck knee deep in froggy water.
“DIY prepped us well really, barely having time to eat and shower! Here it’s mostly having to get used to different job roles, what tasks we do each day but we’ve been fine.”
Dan, who worked as a civil engineer on a high-speed railway project, adds: “Of course, we knew there wouldn’t be fast food outlets on the island but one of the biggest adjustments for me was having to get deliveries of food. And if we need a certain tool, it takes that much longer to get to us. We don’t have a fridge: there is a wind turbine which powers a generator we use for the hoover for the cottages.
"We can charge our devices but have to be careful. We tried making smoothies and lost power for two days.”
And their look-on-the-bright-side attitude is obvious when they laugh that no hot water means there’s no laundry done on the island.
Great Blasket (An Blascaod Mór) was famously once home to the storyteller Peig Sayers whose autobiography was the bane of many a Leaving Cert student’s existence.
Emily is voluntarily reading Peig now: “I didn’t actually study Peig in school. My mom and her sister did though and it was the first thing they said when they heard we were coming here — that it used to be on the curriculum and everyone dreaded it. I’m halfway through it [the English translation] now and am really enjoying it.”
“I haven’t spoken Irish since school but we have been practicing our cúpla focail. I’ve even heard Dan practicing too.”
They have other books for entertainment too: “We brought two big boxes of books on everything from ‘Birds of Ireland’ to self-help entrepreneur books.”
And there’s always Pita the lamb to tend to.
Emily Campbell and Daniel Regan, the caretakers on the Great Blasket Island in Kerry, feeding Pita the lamb.
A GRAND LIFE
There are around 250 sheep on the island and, a few weeks ago, one mother rejected her lamb so the pair are looking after him now.
Pita [an acronym for ‘pain in the ass’] is “keeping us busy”, they laugh.
“He’s really lovely and absolutely spoilt as we feed him too much. He has a grand life — he comes right up to the door and baas when he wants food.”
There is more native wildlife, of course, including grey seals, seabirds, and basking sharks.
“We had around 1,000 grey seals on the beach today and lots and lots of basking sharks this season, I counted 17 basking sharks today. And a lot of locals are commenting that there seems to be more than in recent years. It’s funny really as, in London, the only wildlife nearby was two magpies that I was obsessed with,” says Emily.
There are also Manx Shearwater seabirds: “I hadn’t really heard of them before. They are mostly out fishing for food but they come to the island to roost in rabbit burrows and feed their chicks.
“They don’t walk very well but they take off from the cliffs here. They do make a strange shrieking noise but we can sleep right through it now.”
Emily Campbell with a sign urging visitors to be mindful of the island's wildlife
Not all island visitors are as respectful of the wildlife.
“Some people who came here were disturbing the wild animals — one day there were even girls doing jumping jacks quite close to them [the seals] and taking photos and Dan had to go down and ask them to be a bit more mindful.
The majority of people are very respectful but ultimately if someone goes too close then they are disturbing a wild animal in its habitat and scaring it back into the sea which disrupts their feeding and rest and they are also ruining the spectacle for other people,” explains Emily.
They have since put up signs asking people to keep their distance.
Both Emily and Dan will have lots of human visitors over the coming months too as friends and family are all excited to visit Great Blasket.
“We’ll have visits from my aunt and uncle while we are here and Em’s mom is coming again on Saturday again — we’ll have people here most weekends of summer,” says Dan.
The 2016 and 2018 caretakers have also visited: “We really enjoyed chatting with them and they told us how things were during their time. The whole island has improved even in the last few years and is a lot more convenient now.”
Dan and Emily's digs on Great Blasket Island
The island had been inhabited until 1954 when the last of the permanent residents left.
“Some of the things you miss are things you can’t bring over — I have never craved ice cream this much. We don’t have a freezer. And I do genuinely miss my hairdryer,” says Emily.
“I miss being able to just flick on a light switch. And the convenience of being able to get a replacement from the local hardware store if something broke down,” Dan adds.
But “we are living in absolute luxury compared to how people used to live on the island not that long ago either” they both point out.
Other advantages include a great night’s sleep and “we’re spending a lot less than London. We have no bills and our accommodation and food is provided and we get a modest wage, so in a way we’re better off than in London” says Dan.
So, will they be able to go back to 9-5 jobs in a city after their island stint ends?
Emily admits that they have already been discussing that.
“City life would be difficult so we have been chatting about other places and have started researching other similar roles. We have always talked about that anyway.”
Get a drone to pop over with an ice cream cone and a creamy pint on a hot day and it’s likely they would never want to leave.
Check out Emily and Dan’s adventures and daily chores on Instagram @greatblasketcaretakers.
