Do you like loneliness? Would you like to live alone without your sweetheart or friends, go somewhere to visit, where will not touch you any complexity or uproar? If yes the answer to those questions, the country’s only one coral island Saint Martin is the ideal place to visit for you.
The Teknaf upazila of the district of Cox’s Bazar. Its location lies south-east end of the country, at the end of the borders adjoining the Bay of Bengal. From Teknaf to St. Martin’s distance is about 26 nautical miles. It takes about 3 hours to go from Teknaf to Saint Martin’s by sea bus.
The island was named the name of British captain St. Martin. “Coconut Jinjira” was the eastern name of this island. The size of this island is about 12km and about 10 thousands of people live there. Fishing is the main occupation of the people of this island. Many people spend also their lives selling coconut and marine resources, providing various services of tourism. In other words, their life is pivotal just the island.
Now I’m sharing with you how will you go to St. Martin from Dhaka and how you spend your precious time. Many buses left from Saidabad in Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar or Teknaf. If you go to Cox’s Bazar from Dhaka, again you have to travel by bus from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf. Or you can go to Chittagong by Train. From the Alonkar more in Chittagong you have to go to Teknaf by bus. After leaving the bus to Teknaf, you will have to take the sea bus ticket. If you can not take a ticket, you will have to go to St. Martin from Teknaf by Trawler. A lot of trawlers go to St. Martin from Teknaf.
You will feel fortunate when going from Teknaf to St. Martin. Because, you can see countless fishing boats, hills, long and vast sea from the two sides of the ship. The beautiful scenery all around will hold your eyes, it is difficult to move your eyes even for a moment. In the middle of the journey, the “Mohona” will come, where the Naf River and the Bay of Bengal mix together. It can not be understood if you do not see the greatness of their meeting.
But the fear started from here! Do not fear, can be called adventure. In the Bay of Bengal, the ships will be pressed under the pressure of waves — once aside so once again other side. There is no word of the Trawler. With the waves, the trawler will swing so much, that you will begin to call Allah the fear of life. But in the end, when the ship comes to St. Martin’s, there will not be any scary or fear of travel. A lot of boats and ships will stand on both sides and from the far, you can see the coconut trees.
Now you came to St. Martin’s. But, where will you live and what will you eat? There are many hotels or resorts, where you can stay. In the hotel or resort you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner. But in this case, the cost can be a little more. There are also many restaurants in the market, where you can eat. The speciality of this place is sea fish. They catch fish from the sea and cook it. The taste of the fish will be remembered forever after leaving the island.
As I mentioned earlier, the main feature of the island is loneliness and singleness. The waves of the sea are flown on the shores of the island to entertain tourists. The waves of the sea and the sound of the waves remind us of the beloved person. It seems trivial to the floating island and on the big earth. We may have seen the longest beach of Cox’s Bazar, but there is not much harmony in wearing nature, also not like here the ferocious roar and maternal appearance of the sea. Also, the large coral of St. Martin’s has made this island distinct from another else.
The tourists enjoy the beauty of the sea eating tea or coffee at the tea shops on the sea beach. These shops are open 24 hours a day. You can play football, cricket or other games at the sea beach to spend time. Also, you can take a bath in the sea. That will be another memorable moment. Whose feelings are very difficult to express in words. If someone takes a bath in the sea, he understands the feelings only.
On the 15th of January 2016, I went to St. Martin’s with my colleagues. It was an official tour. There were around 20 members on this tour. We went to Teknaf from Dhaka by bus. After leaving the bus, we had breakfast and also took the ship’s ticket for going to St. Martin’s. We stood the line to go to the ship at about 9 AM. The ship's name was Keari Sindbad.
From Teknaf when the ship goes to St. Martin’s, you can see a lot of sea eagles. The birds will be with you to go to St. Martin’s in the back, side by side of the ship. They will attract your mind to them, will remove your loneliness, you can not remember your past, they will remove your past from your mind, they will gift you a beautiful scenario. We were in St. Martin for four days. We’ve had a great time on there, St. Martin’s has snatched my mind. I’ll go there again and again.
The Chera Deep is a little away from St. Martin’s. You have to go there through the Trawler from St. Martin. There are not any accommodations for the stay, but there are sold properly Dub and coconut. After leaving the Trawler, which becomes a food ingredient for everyone. You can finish visiting this island within 1 hour.
We all know about Humayun Ahmed, who loves the light of the moon. The description of the incomparable of the light of the moon in his book often seemed unusual to us. But someone has enjoyed the moonlight in St. Martin’s, these descriptions will rarely have him. The light of the moon does not come this way anywhere in the country. Because St. Martin’s does not have electricity, the moon is enlightened by its light on this island. Or who knows, maybe by his glowing light, he enjoys the great natural beauty of the coral island.