Pro hockey player and yoga teacher arrive at Great Blasket Island for caretaker roles
Brock Montgomery, 29, from Moose Jaw, Canada, and Claire de Haas from Alkmaar, the Netherlands, have arrived on the Great Blasket Island for their caretaking position.
The new caretakers of Great Blasket Island have arrived after beating the other 100,000 applicants to land the coveted jobs.
A well-known former professional Canadian ice hockey player and his Dutch partner have taken on the new challenge as caretakers for the next six months.
The couple, Brock Montgomery, 29, from Moose Jaw, Canada, and Claire de Haas from Alkmaar, the Netherlands, refused to give up on their hopes of landing the jobs as they applied three times.
Despite the Co Kerry island having no running water and electricity, the couple knew it was for them.
Claire is a yoga teacher and Brock was previously a right-wing player in the American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League. Most recently, he was with the German Tilburg Trappers.
Speaking from the Island the couple said: “We have been busy the last week preparing the cottages for the arrival of our first guests. We can’t wait to welcome you to the island and look forward to seeing many of you over here soon.”
Ahead of their arrival Claire, who played field hockey for 12 years said: “It’s a unique opportunity where we will be learning lots from a new culture and surroundings. We know it's going to be hard work, but we like the challenge."
The young Dutch woman joked she was worried about the rain but that they “don't have many concerns".
"We feel pretty comfortable. Obviously, the busy time of the year might be an extreme period for us, but we're ready for this.”
The couple met four years ago and went to Bali for nine months where they became certified yoga teachers.
Brock, who now owns the clothing brand Mountain Life Apparel, is currently studying meditation and mindfulness to start working with athletes and first responders. He also aspires to make travel documentaries around the world interviewing interesting people with unique stories to tell.
The couple, Claire believes, will bring “fun energy, flexibility, a positive vibe to the island along with enjoying hosting people and our own life experiences".
“(We are sure we will get) a lifetime memory, an experience we will never forget. Also, the experience of a different culture is going to be an asset.”
Neither of them has been to Ireland before.
Billy O’Connor, who runs the accommodation on the island along with his partner Alice Hayes said they did not advertise the positions due to tens of thousands of previous applications.
There are no permanent residents on the island, which was deserted in the 1950s because emergency services were unable to reach it in storms.
Mr O’Connor and Ms Hayes own three cottages, which are rented out to holidaymakers, and a coffee shop on the island.
The couple has been inundated with enquiries by phone, email, social media messages, and paper applications from around the world and from such countries as Mexico, Finland, and Argentina since first advertising the two positions three years ago.
In the first year of advertising the positions more than 40,000 applications were received.
Located about three miles off the coast of Dingle, Co Kerry, the Great Blasket Island was home to the late author and storyteller Peig Sayers, whose writings formed part of the Leaving Cert Irish curriculum.
The couple's adventure can be followed on @clairedehaas_ @brockmontgomeryy @mountainlifeapparel
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