By Kaila Markette

For Joe Darcy, being a tour guide was not his first choice as a career.

Being the eighth child out of nine in a poor family, he had made the best out of life. But following his early years in school, Joe Darcy was awarded a scholarship to attend secondary education at O’Connell School in Dublin, which was quite uncommon at the time.

“Most Dublin poor kids wouldn’t have moved on to secondary education because it was out of their family’s financial reach, but I got one [a scholarship]. I don’t think I was highly intelligent. I was just good at passing tests,” Darcy said with a laugh.

Once Darcy had finished school in 1967, he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do until fate itself intervened.

“One day I was wondering around in the summer and saw an advertisement in the paper looking for deck officer cadets in the merchant navy. While I had never even considered a life at sea, the advertisement caught my eye, and I just had to apply,” Darcy said.

He applied and went through the interview process.   

“It was different than what I had imagined it would be, and I was completely impressed by it, so I had no doubts in my mind about joining,” Darcy said.

It consisted of an aptitude test, set to gauge decision-making in a variety of situations. His leadership and teamwork skills were also put to the test in a number of tasks.

After joining, Darcy was sent to navigation school in England, and he spent the next 11 years sailing the seas. Darcy then returned home, started a family and began working for a shipping company.

“Rather than spending four to five months at sea, I could spend one to two weeks away from home, which is what I needed in order to start a family,” Darcy said.

Life at sea wasn’t always easy for Darcy. Even though his time away had been cut down tremendously, he suffered a mental breakdown.

“I was captain of a ship, and while I loved doing what I was doing, I still suffered from major depression. It reached the point to where I became suicidal, and I realized I needed help, so I got it,”  Darcy said.

But the help Darcy sought turned out to cost him his job. Darcy was forced to retire shortly after he began taking medication with a warning to avoid operating heavy machinery.

Time progressed and Darcy was searching for his next career move. When his youngest daughter, Katrina, wanted to visit a college, Darcy was happy to accompany her on the visit. It was then that he found his new calling in life.

“When we were visiting [colleges], I saw a flier for this one-year course in Irish heritage and culture. The syllabus looked great with so many different topics,” Darcy said.

After speaking with the professor of the course, Darcy signed up for the class. He said he loved every second of it. He was able to relearn the history of Ireland and broaden his horizons, ultimately leading him to his next job.

“One of the ideas we were given from taking the class was becoming a tour guide, so I knocked on the door of Tourism Ireland, interviewed with them and signed up for tour guide classes, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Darcy said. In fact, his first full tour around the country was with the Point Park International Media course group in 2010.

While Darcy is extremely passionate about being a tour guide, and he works some of the time for Rick Steves, his first priority is his family.

“I’ve been married for 41 years and have two beautiful girls, and they are the most important thing in my life,” Darcy said.

But Darcy doesn’t see himself speaking into tour bus microphones, sharing his love and abundance of knowledge for the country of Ireland forever.

“I’m getting a bit old now, and being with my family is the most important thing to me. I love my job, but I give myself about five or six more years before I retire,” Darcy said.

From sailing at sea to leading people through the beautiful country of Ireland, Joe Darcy has had a fulfilling life and he said he is excited to see what the future has in store for him and his family.