Where the heck is Carrabelle, FL?

We learned the answer to that question today at the Carrabelle History Museum.  Carrabelle is 18.5 miles south of Sopchoppy, FL traveling through Tate’s Hell (but that’s a whole ‘nother story). Clear as mud?!  We will be posting several times from Carrabelle so stay tuned for more info…

Greetings and salutations - KG here at the quill.  I decided to give Tony a blog break since I haven’t participated in this fun since the weather turned cold.  

We traveled yesterday from Apalachicola, FL eastward to the end of the upper Gulf Intercostal Waterway (and almost the end of the panhandle).  The GICW stops at Carrabelle, FL because the waters east of here are very shallow near the land and there aren’t barrier islands so boats have to transit through the waters about 7 miles off the coast to get to the Florida Peninsula where the GICW begins again.  This area is known as Florida’s Big Bend.  If we had our mast and sails, now would be the time to put them on the boat to sail offshore directly down to the Tarpon Springs area, but we’ve decided that (at least for now) we’re going to leave the sails in MN.  This means we are going to be traveling three or four shorter hops around the bend staying closer to shore, and seeing more of the towns along the coast of Florida. And, because of our size and weight, we have a very narrow range of weather conditions we’re willing to travel in on the gulf.  We got a little taste of this yesterday as we motored through Apalachicola Bay - we were behind the barrier islands but the wind in the low double digits and 1-2 foot waves off our quarter served as a little taste of what we’re in for.  Unfortunately, at this time of year, good weather conditions are few and far between.  Right now it is looking like the next 1-1.5 weeks will be too blustery for us to move so we’re staying in Carrabelle for the time being.  

That said, yesterday afternoon after we arrived and today we have had beautiful sunny weather in the upper 50’s-lower 60’s and we’ve spent a good deal of time walking around this small coastal town that at one time was one of the largest US producers of turpentine and then was one of the largest Florida seaports for the export of timber (which ended the turpentine boom).  

The Carrabelle History Museum had a fascinating exhibit and educational video of the production of turpentine that we availed ourselves of today.  This was an industry that flourished here due to the dense native pine forests.  The sap would be harvested from the trees and then the resin distilled to make turpentine and many other medicinal products.  The collection of sap required very difficult labor and the trees could only be “milked” for a few years before they were then cut down as lumber.  Then, as Florida became a major source of lumber for Europe and other American cities, the pine forests were cut down for lumber as this was much more lucrative than turpentine.

At the museum, we also got acquainted with the original Carrabelle Police Station that we had seen yesterday on the street - here is a picture of me at what I thought was the original Carrabelle police station:

Yes that’s a phone booth - and the Carrabelle Police Station.  Since there was only one police officer on duty at a time, and they were out walking their beat, they just had a phone mounted on the outside of a central building in case someone needed to call them.  But people figured out that anyone could make phone calls on the phone with the police department footing the bill so people would make unauthorized long distance calls on it. The only way they had to crack down on this was to put the phone in its own phone booth which also gave the police officer some shelter if needed.  We watched a very funny 1991 appearance of the Carrabelle Police Chief on the Johnny Carson show where they discussed said phone booth- police station.  But…apparently the one in the picture above is not the original booth.  When the original phone booth was donated to the Carrabelle History Museum, tourists were disappointed they didn’t have a phone booth to take selfies at so they erected  a booth in the original location for tourists.  Here’s the original phone booth station from our museum tour:

I appreciate all the good wishes and concern we’ve received with some of our recent weather.  Despite the temperatures, we have been really taken with the flora as we travel east on the panhandle.  We are seeing some areas that have small forests, but just as many in this eastern section have more grassy areas.  Some of the grasses that we’ve walked next to are GINORMOUS - far taller than I am.  The plant life is so varied and really beautiful but (of course) different from anything we have in the midwest.  It is eyeopening to realize how many different species there are of pelicans and cormorants.  And we have also gotten to see new terns, loons and even an albatross thrown into the mix.  I feel so fortunate that I’m able to just be present in this beautiful scenery and watch and listen to it unfold each day in so many different ways- that’s really the biggest benefit I’m finding to this extensive slow travel.  That and these gorgeous sunsets.  Here’s tonight’s: