Carrabelle claims to have the world's smallest police station, and it is not a joke: for years the local police took calls from a telephone booth on the main road, and the booth is still there, now a roadside curiosity where people stop for a photograph. That sense of humour suits the place, a fishing town of a few thousand people at the mouth of the Carrabelle River on the Gulf coast, with shrimp boats tied up at the docks and a slow, unpretentious pace.
During the Second World War, the beaches around Carrabelle were turned into a training ground for amphibious landings. Camp Gordon Johnston, built here in 1942, prepared tens of thousands of soldiers for beach assaults in Europe and the Pacific, and a small museum in town tells the story with photographs and equipment. Just west of town, the Crooked River Lighthouse rises above the pines, a tall, red-and-white iron tower that you can climb for a view over St. George Sound and the barrier islands.
Behind the coast stretches Tate's Hell State Forest, a huge area of swamp, pine flatwoods and dwarf cypress, named after a farmer who, according to legend, wandered lost in the swamp for days after chasing a panther and emerged only to say where he had been. It is wild, flat country with sandy forest roads that are fine on a dual-sport bike and treacherous on a heavy tourer.
The main road through town is US 98, which follows the Gulf shore with water on one side and pines on the other, mostly flat and straight with gentle curves and wide views across the sound. It is pleasant, relaxed riding, best in the morning when the wind is low and the light is clear. Traffic is light except on summer weekends.
Carrabelle has a gas station, a couple of small restaurants serving local seafood and a few places to stay, but options are limited and close early. Tallahassee, about seventy-five kilometres north, is the nearest city with full services. Summers are hot, humid and stormy, and the hurricane season runs from June to November. Winter is mild, quiet and pleasant, with excellent birdwatching along the shore.