Skellig Michael, the rocky island revered by Star Wars fans

For the past 34 years, Pat O’Shea has cared for a rocky island that was once home to a monastic settlement, attacked by Vikings and beloved by Star Wars fans.

Every Monday between April and October, he steps out of his house and gazes out across the rugged expanse of County Kerry to the Atlantic Ocean.

Observe the icy and choppy waters to guess if the surf might hinder your weekly commute to work.

At 7:00 a.m., he calls the owner of the transport ship moored outside the town of Portmagee, to determine if he and his small team will be able to cross over to Sceilg Mhichíl (in Irish), the larger of the two Skellig Islands, one of the national monuments of Ireland.

O’Shea and his colleagues at the Office of Public Works (OPW), a state agency, care for this rocky crag world renowned, about 12 kilometers from the southwest coast of Ireland.

It is a place with very high irregular cliffs and abundant birdlife, particularly puffins.

The second island, known as the Little Skellig (Little Skellig), is located just opposite and is famous for its huge colony of tens of thousands of gannets.

The exile of Luke Skywalker

The southern peak of Sceilg Mhichíl is 218 meters high and was used as a hermitage by monks, and on the lower 183 meter high peak is the main monastery.

The remote hermitage and well-preserved monastery, reputedly founded in the 6th century by Saint Fionan, is also one of the island of Ireland’s three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, along with Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, and Brú na Bóinne in County Meath.

Thanks to Luke Skywalker, who lived in self-imposed exile for several years in the island sanctuarywhich doubled as a water planet in a galaxy far, far away in two Star Wars movies, its appeal has only increased further.

O’Shea believes that while Skellig Michael’s appearance in “The Force Awakens” (2015) and “The Last Jedi” (2017) brought the hollywood glamor and the number of visitors increased, perhaps interest has peaked.

It was the setting for filming “Episode VII” and “Episode VIII” of the popular science fiction saga, and served as the backdrop for the first Star Wars festival in 2018.

remote location

As Island District Foreman, Skellig Michael has been O’Shea’s place of business in the spring and summer months for the past 34 years.

He and his small team live on the island from Monday to Friday, and sometimes longer if bad weather leaves them “abandoned”.

Living conditions on the island for the few who work there have improved over the years, but are still relatively primitive.

Solar panels provide electricity to their cabins, which come complete with a small gas cooker, and there’s also a shared composting toilet.

Given the remote location, they must also bring maintenance supplies.

O’Shea’s specialty is dry stone walls and he is never short of tasks.

“There is always maintenance on the monastery and the steps to make sure they are safe for people to climb,” he says.

The monks used the so-called beehive stone cells as shelters on the island.

“We have to make sure that everything is correct. Make sure there are no loose steps or collapsed walls.”

12,060 people visited the island in 2021. Receive a maximum of 180 daily visitorsand the tourists leave on the same day, in the late afternoon, leaving only O’Shea and his team, three guides who live on the island in rotation during the summer, and the large population of seabirds.

The visitor season runs from May through October.

The fans

Robert Harris, the main guide on the island, has been going every season for 35 years.

“We have people who come out dressed in the insignia. I have discovered in the last three or four years fascinating aspects of the world of Star Wars,” she says.

He remembers giving a young Star Wars fan suffering from a serious illness a tour of the island a few years ago.

“I spent about an hour with him. He told me about the Force, the good and the bad, the light and the dark.

“I just couldn’t argue with that.”

He worries about the long-term effect of having so many visitors, saying the numbers need to be “monitored all the time for conservation reasons.”

“It’s good to keep an open perspective about a different way of living, and the island represents something like that,” he says.

“It is a wild environment. And some people may not know exactly what they’re dealing with when they get there,” says Robert.

He is struck by the emotional effect that the island has on those who visit the monastery and the hermitage.

“When visitors come up and look at a place where monks lived so long ago, and we have this very precious, tangible isolated place where you can go out and have physical contact with a different vision, it’s incredibly cool,” says Robert.