Costa Mesa couple, boating enthusiasts complete 6,000-mile Great Loop voyage

Opportunities to go on the adventure of a lifetime may be few and far between, but for Costa Mesa residents and boating enthusiasts Dan Salazar and Ann Johnson, an epic journey is just a boat ride away.

The couple routinely go on short excursions to Catalina Island or San Diego, where it’s common for them to spend the day fishing aboard their 25-foot Walkaround power boat — the Rum Runner— and moor up at a marina overnight.

In recent years, they’ve even transported the Rum Runner by trailer to marinas in locations northward, embarking from the city of Stockton for a trip around San Francisco, Napa River and Morro Bay, or taking off from Bellingham, Wash., on a tour of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

“My dad had boats when I was a little guy, and I’ve had boats, on and off, for fishing pretty much all of my adult life,” Salazar, 73, said Wednesday.

New York’s Ellis Island, seen from the Rum Runner, a 25-foot boat owned by Costa Mesans Dan Salazar and Ann Johnson.

(Courtesy of Dan Salazar)

But it wasn’t until this year that Salazar and Johnson, partners for the last 12 years, undertook a voyage that has called to hobbyist mariners for more than a century — the Great Loop.

The nearly 6,000-mile journey circumnavigates the eastern United States and Canada, taking boaters up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, through New York’s canal system into the Great Lakes, then down an inland river system, across the Gulf of Mexico to Florida’s southern tip.

“I’d heard about the Great Loop — it kind of came across my radar almost two years ago,” said Salazar, who owned a commercial floor covering company but retired eight years ago. “And [now] I have the time.”

So, with Johnson agreeing to serve as first mate, the couple had the Rum Runner shipped to Mobile, Ala., from where they began their own journey of a lifetime on Feb. 29.

Although the route’s been traveled since the early 1900s, it was more formally monikered by Ron and Eva Stob, then-California residents who’d taken the long trip in 1994 and documented their travels in a book, “Honey Let’s Get a Boat … A Cruising Adventure of the American Great Loop.”

America’s Great Loop circumnavigates the eastern U.S. and Canada in a route that’s been traveled for over a century.

(America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Assn.)

While peddling the book at a boat show in 1999, the Stobs created a sign-up list for a grassroots America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Assn., where people could share experiences and tips for a successful voyage and meet with other boaters on the Loop.

Today, the group has registered more than 2,000 vessels and last year logged a record 249 adventurers who’d completed the cruise, officially earning their “BaccaLOOPerate Degree,” which comes with a club-issued gold-colored burgee, or boat flag, according to AGLCA Executive Director Kim Russo.

“Post COVID the stats have been much higher than they were before,” said Russo, who completed her own Great Loop trip this February. “Interest in the recreational market is strong, and I do think it’s also partly social media [playing a role]. Back in the day, people might have only told their friends or close relatives. Now they can post pretty pictures to thousands of followers.”

AGLCA Director Kim Russo, left, with partner Michael Martin aboard the Perch, a Silverton 410 Cockpit Motor Yacht.

(Courtesy of Kim Russo)

Some mariners have completed the feat via kayak, while others have cruised in comfort on 94-foot vessels, but the average boat is about 40 feet — large enough for a galley, sleeping accommodations and modest living quarters.

Most boaters take about a year to finish the trip and factor in sojourns and visits with friends and family along that way, according to Russo. Salazar and Johnson spent eight months, with several stops along the way and a six-week return trip home in summer to beat the heat.

After leaving Mobile, the pair headed to Florida and spent more than a month at an Airbnb rental in Key West.

“It was a resort community, and it had a pool and a boat dock,” Salzar said. “We got to know the neighbors and used the boat as a day boat. Loopers tend to try and follow the seasons. They do their planning so they have good weather.”

Then it was up the Eastern Seaboard to North Carolina’s Myrtle Beach before visiting Salazar’s newborn granddaughter in Connecticut and reaching New York by Fourth of July.

A gold burgee, or boat flag, is given by the group AGLCA to boaters who’ve navigated America’s Great Loop.

(Courtesy of Dan Salazar)

A former preschool teacher who now works on a freelance basis, Johnson was thrilled to travel the open seas.

“The water’s always been in my blood,” the 55-year-old native Indiana resident said Wednesday, describing trips to lakeside towns. “But when you’re on the ocean, when you get out there and it’s crystal blue, it calls you. It’s just an awesome experience.”

Despite living in cramped quarters, which requires excellent communication skills, Johnson said she and Salazar actually grew closer together on the expedition. And, in between routes, the couple booked rooms at hotels where they could get a hot shower and a meal.

A highlight to Salazar was visiting Milwaukee’s Harley Davidson Museum and seeing Wisconsin’s Door County. Johnson enjoyed meeting up with her mother in New York City for a Broadway production of “The Great Gatsby.”

The couple returned to Costa Mesa Nov. 2, having spent a total of four months in transit.

“I had a blast,” Johnson said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip.”

Dan Salazar and Ann Johnson, on their boat Rum Runner, display gold burgees they received for completing a Great Loop cruise.

(Courtesy of Dan Salazar)