Captain’s Cove

Captain’s Cove

I mentioned my favorite job in my last post, so I thought I should explain a bit more. Captain’s Cove is a small gift and souvenier shop in Seaport Village on the waterfront of downtown San Diego. It’s really a lot more than just a gift shop, it’s also a second home for some of the lucky long term employees, and a second family for some of us who’ve had to follow our songlines and move on from there.

The owner (who’ll remain anonymous for now) has to be one of the most generous, kind hearted women on the face of the earth! Aside from running the store, she’s also very involved with charity work and running the San Diego Parrot Head Club. She’s also incredibly understanding and forgiving which was seriously appreciated on a couple of occasions during my employment!

Captain’s Cove, just thinking back brings back a thousand memories… playing with the customers, playing with the new employees (even training them sometimes), playing with the management, playing the music just a bit too loud on a Saturday night when I was left to run the store and there were die hard parrotheads shopping, playing Buffett all day and all night while working two double shifts in a row, just all sorts of good times.

Captain’s Cove is also where I met my girlfriend, although neither one of us had any idea of our future together at the time. She was the manager when I started and we were still just friends when she moved to Vegas about three months after I started. We kept in touch and finally got together and hit it off when she returned to San Diego for the Buffett concert in 2003. Waiting to finish school so I could move out to Vegas was a royal pain! My girlfriend sure is wonderful!!!

So if you’re ever in San Diego, make sure to head down to Seaport Village and look for Captain’s Cove. Seaport Village is one of the easiest tourist destinations to find – just ask anyone! Or you can take Harbor Drive or Pacific Highway south to where they meet just north of the Hyatt and Marriott. Captain’s Cove is in the west end of the Village, sandwiched between Crazy Shirts and Captain Hunt. You’ll find something you like and some great decorations and music!!!