St. Martin's Island (Bengali: সেন্ট মার্টিন্স দ্বীপ) is a small island (area only 8 km2) in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh. There is a small adjoining island that is separated at high tide, called Chhera island. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at the mouth of the Naf River. The first settlement started just 250 years ago by some Arabian sailors who named the island ‘Zajira’. During British
occupation the island was named St. Martin Island. The local names of
the island are "Narical Gingira", also spelled "Narikel
Jinjira/Jinjera", which means 'Coconut Island' in Bengali, and "Daruchini Dip". It is the only coral island in Bangladesh.
St. Martins Island is a treasure chest of nature that will
take your breath away by its outstanding natural beauty and zillions of
stars in the night. A true symbol of grace and serenity that will
vanquish your miseries and horror of your past, will give you the much
needed peace to recharge yourself.
St. Martins Island is one of the most naturally beautiful places and
the only coral island of Bangladesh. The natural scenery of the island
is very much exotic especially at night. If it happens to be a moonlit
night then you will not be able to resist the charm and surely be
tempted to visit the St. Martin Island again.
St. Martins is a stifling stripe. The local people call the island as
“Naricale Jinjira”. Naricale is the local name for the coconut. As the
island is full of coconut trees local people named this coral island
after this specialty. The island is a very quiet, neat and clean place
with nothing more exhausting thing to do than soak up the rays without a
bite of mosquitoes.
St. Martins is a very small island. It’s so small that you can walk
around the whole island by a day. It’s about 8 sq. km. but shrinks to 5
sq. km. during the high tide. The majority of the 7000 islander’s live
mainly from fishing, and within the October and April neighboring
fishermen bring their catch to the St. Martins temporary wholesale
market. The other staple crops are rice and coconuts. Also algae is
collected and dried than sell in Myanmar.
As the center and south is mainly farmland and makeshift huts, most
things are strenuous around the far north of the island. Except the
larger hotels that run generators in the evening for a few hours there
is no electricity on the island.
Normally in November to February you will get the best weather that’s
why it’s the major tourist season. From March to July keep your eyes on
the forecast, as cyclone can strike between these times. The island was
devastated by a cyclone in 1991 but has fully recovered, and was
untouched by the 2004 tsunami. That’s why March to July is tourist off
season.
0 comments:
Post a Comment