Saint Martin’s Island

St. Martin’s Island is  a tiny island located at southern part of Chittagong division in Bangladesh. It is about 9 kilometers south side of the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsular tip. Approximately 8 kilometer west of the northwest coastal area of Myanmar. This wonderful island lies between 92°18´ and 92°21´East longitudes and 20°34´ and 20°39´North latitudes. The local people named it as Narikel Jinjira. The island is almost flat and only 3.6 meter above the average sea level. There are a ridge of jagged rock, coral, and sand just below or above the surface of the sea from 10 to 15 kilometer to the west-northwest.

The population of Saint Martin’s Island  is about only 4 thousand and most of them live from fish business. The major attraction here is the northern part of the island which is mostly enjoyable between November and February. The most densely populated area in Saint Martin Island is Jinjira. The only biggest problem is scarcity of drinkable water. There are only few sources of sweet water, therefore its not only problematic for drinking but also for cultivation. Even though the island lies in monsoon area, the island’s climate is mostly controlled by the sea condition.

If you want to visit to Saint Martin’s Island you need to follow few processes. First of all, you will have to fly or bus it down to Cox’s Bazar, and then get into a bus  that heads to Teknaf. From Teknaf, many ferries operated regularly and will take you around 3 hours to reach St. Martin’s Island. Accommodation facility in Saint Martins Island is very limited, so it is suggested that you book accommodation prior to visit in this Island. If you Google you will discover few Saint Martin hotels and their details to book in advance from Dhaka.

Cheera-dwip is a small part of St. Martins Island but its has been separated during tides. You can go to Cheera-dwip by on foot. It is only about two and a half hours walk from St. Martin’s Island. In addition, you can visit there also by local motorboat or tourist boat. In that Island you will discover many eye-blessing Corals. A small bush is there to enjoy which is the only green portion of Cheera-dwip.

St. Martins Island is renowned due to natural beauty of dead and live corals. These days, many coral has been removed for business purpose. But this activity will assure extinction of natural beauty of this island in near future. As a visitor, what you can do is that avoiding purchasing those corals to preserve the natural beauty.