St. Martine's the only coral island of Bangladesh:

I love to travel and visited almost all the beautiful places of Bangladesh. Because I believe we are living in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, happiness, charm and adventure. There is no end to the beauty and adventures of the world, we can observe it only if we seek them with our eyes open.

Beautiful view of St. Martin's Island

Though there are lots of beautiful places in the country but in my eye St. Martin's Island is the most beautiful place among all of them. This Island also known as Narikel Jinjira (Coconut Island) by the locals. It is situated forty-eight kilometers from Teknaf Thana of Cox’s Bazar District. St. Martin's is the only coral island of Bangladesh. It's a clean and peaceful place of Bangladesh with nothing more strenuous to do than soak up the rays even mosquitoes are a rarity. The St. Martin’s island is all about sun, sea and palm trees. At the day time, the island comes alive with water and beach sports, with beach parties and bonfires lighting up the twilight skies.  Total area of this beautiful coral Island has been changed two times in a day during high tide. The dumbbell shaped St.Martin's Island has an average area of only 8 sq. km. which reduces to about 5 sq. km. during high tide.

  

A beautiful scenery of coconut island - ST. Martin's

There are near about 7000 inhabitants in the Island. Most of them are depended on fishing for their livelihood. Between October and April, the fishermen from neighboring areas bring their caught fishes to the island's provisional wholesale market. There are also few crops like rice and coconut. People of Island also collect Algae from the sea and after drying it they export it to the Myanmar. Most of the strenuous things are around the far north of the island because the centre and the south are mainly farmland and makeshift huts.

  

Chera Dwip is situated in the southern side of the island. A small shrub is there, which is the only green part of Chera Dwip, enhancing the beauty of this coral island. You can walk the beach to the southern island of Chera Dwip, reachable on foot along a narrow strip of land at the time of low tide, or you can go there via a boat shuttle at the time of high tide. Be careful of very sharp rocks if wading through the water; sandals are ideal for walking. People do not live on this part of the island, so it is advisable for the tourists to go there early and come back by afternoon. Walking the length of the island takes around 1.5 hours. Take some sunscreen (for protect your skin from the Sun) and water. You can also drink green coconut water. You will find it all around the island.

I can’t described the amazing beauty of the St. Martin's Island in this few sentence. Calm, cool and blue water all around the island, looks like a piece of heaven in the Earth. You can't imagine the beauty of this wonderful island without go there.

Hotel Blue Marine, St. Martine's Island

How to go: In order to reach the St. Martin’s island, you have to go Cox’s Bazar or reach Teknaf Ghat. To reach Teknaf from the capital of Bangladesh, you can take a night coach bus. There are both AC and NON-AC bus. The bus starts from Dhaka at night and it will reach in the morning. After reaching Teknaf you have to take a ship from Teknaf Ghat. The ship starts from 9 AM, so one should reach the ghat before 9 AM in order avoid missing the ship. Currently, five shipping liners run daily trips to the island, including Shahid Sher Niabat, L T Kutubdia, Eagle, Keary Cruise & Dine and Keary-Sindbad.

Where to stay: There are lots of hotel and motels in the island. All these hotels are situated near the seashore. A few of these are Abokash, Ratnodeep Resort, Nil Diganta, Hotel Blue Marine, Prashad Paradise, Sraboni Bilash, and Motel Nijhum etc. You can also visit this island without staying there.