Saint Martin (Narikel Jinjira): Brief history, lifestyle, Places to see, accommodation & tour guide.

Brief history about Saint Martin’s Island:

Saint Martin’s island also known as “Narikel Jinjira” locally means “coconut Island” in English. This island also known as “Daruchini Dip” locally means “The cinnamon island” in English. The size of this island is 36 sq km only. Saint Martin’s island is located at the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. As per the demarcation of Bangladesh Saint Martin’s Island is under Teknaf city under Cox’s Bazar district of Chittagong division. Earlier than 18th century this place was named as “Jajeera” by arabian sailors. Later during the British regime over here this place was named after Deputy commissioner of Chittagong district Mr. Martin as St. Martin Island. There is total 9 small villages in this island. Saint Martin’s island is the only coral island of Bangladesh.

Lifestyle of Saint Martin’s Island:

This 36 sq km island have only fewer than 4000 permanent inhabitant here. Most of the people here live their life by fishing, few people is also living life by cultivation of rice & coconut. Also there is few of businessman here also. Most of the business related to tourism such as: Hotel, restaurant, transportation & retailing. Most of the food ingredients here are imported from Teknaf. But this import also remains in danger during the rainy season due to risky convex condition of Bay of Bengal.

Tourism & places to see in Saint Martin’s Island:

Best time for visiting Saint Martin’s Island is between November to February. Time between March to July is better avoid visiting due to heavy wave in the river & chance of cyclones.

The mew birds in the Naf river will make your journey in the ship towards Saint Martin will make your journey enjoyable. You can bring some chips or biscuit with you to feed the birds. Surely your 2 hours journey in the ship towards Saint Martin Island will finish in a while if you enjoy the flying birds. The Birds will travel till island with the ship.

If you hire room at the shore of the resort you obviously will love the sea waves stunning sound whole the day and night. The sea sounds are always relaxing to hear. During the tide of the sea you can soak your feet with sea water even staying inside the hotel premises.

Chera Dip is on of the main attraction for visitors in Saint Martin Island. This part of Saint Martin is the only green part here. It looks blue if the sky is clear. Chera dip is located at a walking distance from Saint Martin but if you want to reach there by foot you have to start early in the morning during low tide. During high tide need to hire vehicle to reach Chera Dip. There is three type (life boat, troller boat & speed boat) of transport available here for transportation. In Chera Dip part of Saint Martin people do not use to live, so tourists are highly recommended to return back to Saint Martin island by afternoon.

Coral is one of the point of attraction in Saint Martin’s Island as coral is only found in Saint Martin only within Bangladesh. This island is also called Coral Island locally for availability of coral.

Fish captured here by local fisherman’s also attracts visitors. You can purchase fresh fish from fish market at low price for Bar-B-Q party at night by sea beach. Also fry fishes are available to purchase in hotels & in beach from evening to midnight.

Transportation & Costing:

Accommodation:

There is around 35-40 hotel & resorts available in Saint Martin Island. Here is the top 10 of the list as per visitors review & Rating:

Note: Rating is calculated based on number of review & rating in google Maps on the date of 7th Jan’2020