St. Martin's Island

Narikel Jinjira

St.Martin's Island is a small island in the northeast part of the Bay  of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of Cox's Bazar- Teknaf peninsula and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh. It is the only coral island in Bangladesh. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar at the mouth of the Naf River. There are beautiful Coral reef and long coral beach and lots of coconut trees in this island. The local name of the coconut is Narikel and the original name of this island is Narikel Jinjira is derived from that.

It’s possible to walk around the island in a day because it measures only 8 sq km (3 sq miles), shrinking to about 5 sq km (2 sq miles) during high tide. Most of island’s 5500 inhabitants live primarily from fishing and between October and April fisher people from neighboring areas bring their catch to the island’s temporary wholesale market.

Coral beach at Cheera-dwip

Cheera-dwip is a part of St. Martins Island but divided during tides. One can go to Cheera-dwip by walking. About two and a half hours walk from St. Martin's Island or one can go there also by local motorboat or tourist boat. In that Island the Corals - living and dead are found all over the Island. A small bush is there which in the only green part of Cheera-dwip, enhancing the beauty of this island. People do not live in this Island, so advisable for the tourists to go there early and come back by afternoon.

Communication:

Saint Martin's can be reached by Sea Truck (KEARI SINDBAD has service from Teknaf to Saint Martin Island). Teknaf can be reached from Dhaka by Bus (Green Line Paribahan, Shohagh Paribahan etc.), Train (Suborna, Mohanagar and Godhuli) or Air (GMG Airlines) [Dhaka-Chittagong-Teknaf]. 

Accommodation:

Motel Nijhum is one of the best hotels in St. Martin's Island. The other good hotels are Prashad Paradise & Sraboni Bilash. All these three hotels are situated adjacent to Seashore. Also Bangladesh Parjatan corporation has restaurant and resort in this island.