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 Phil Harjo
Captain, Ride the Ducks
Eight years ago, busy marketing executive Phil Harjo had an epiphany while on a Ride the Ducks tour with his two young daughters. Today — a.k.a. Captain Phlip Dover — Harjo enjoys a change in career and shares his shift in attitude with his own Ride the Ducks passengers.
What convinced you to change your career?
My pager was going off 24/7. I knew I needed to make a change and I remember my daughter’s little voice. “Hey dad, these guys look like they’re having fun, so why don’t you do this?” Still, it took six years before I called [the Ride the Ducks office]. I said, ‘You don’t know me from Adam, but I’d like to be your next captain.’
You’re in your second season as a Ducks captain now. What makes a good tour group?
The attitude change. When you've convinced them that being a kid is what it’s all about it.
What makes a bad group?
Those tours don't exist.
What’s the most popular part of the tour for most of your passengers?
When you take 26,000 pounds of steel and drive it straight into the lake.
In the summer, Ride the Ducks runs tours every 30 minutes — up to 80 tours a day. Does the job get grueling?
By the end of the 90-minute tour, I genuinely feel like it’s been about 20 minutes.
Where do your guests come from?
Tomorrow night we have 72 passengers with a convention group. We get Japanese visitors during baseball season, Germans, British. Locals bring friends and family. And we get every imaginable group - grads, anniversaries, bar mitzvahs.
Any especially memorable customers recently?
A guy chartered a whole Duck to propose to his girlfriend. We picked them up at the hotel [and toured the city] and she had no idea. It was raining, but then a big piece of blue sky opened right over the lake and a rainbow appeared. I looked at him and said, ‘Well, that's a good sign.’ He proposed in the middle of Lake Union and the view was spectacular. He gave me the camera. His hands were shaking. She was teary but couldn’t wait to say ‘yes.’ I was all choked up. He was from Canada and she was from Ireland, so you know that Seattle is always going to be an indelible part of their marriage. I was really thrilled to be a part of it.
Was your daughter right?
She was four and could see it with crystal clear logic. She was right on the money. It’s been a dream come true.
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