The last time I visited Saint Martin Island was about 15 years ago. After such a long break, I felt the same excitement as I felt on the first time in 2002 and the second time in 2006. In fact, this time the excitement was even more as my family (wife and 6-year-old son) was with me on this trip and for them, this was the first time.
Saint Martin is the only Coral Island in Bangladesh with an area of approximately 3 square kilometers and a population of about 10,000. It is located in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 kilometers away from the Teknaf peninsula.
The words ‘Saint’ and ‘Martin’ were perhaps derived from two colonial nations. ‘Saint’ came from the Arab Marchants who came to this part of Bangladesh in the 18th century for business purposes and some of them might look like Saint. The word ‘Martin’ was named after a British Deputy Commissioner Mr. Martin. Local people also call the island ‘Narikel Jinijira’ – which means Coconut Island as the island is full of coconut trees. People also call the island ‘Daruchini Dwip’ – which means Cinnamon Island; not know why this is so.
Our journey
Travel preparations
There are basic three ways to plan your trip.
(1) you can go Saintmartin from Dhaka by road up to Teknaf and then by Ship from Teknaf to Saint Martin. On the way back, you can follow the same step – by ship from Saint Martin to Teknaf and then by road from Teknaf to Dhaka. This option will allow you to travel any day and stay at Saint Martin as long as you desire.
We followed the steps below:
1. Book two-way bus tickets
2. Confirm a hotel near the beach
3. Purchased two-way ship tickets
4. Purchased two-way bus tickets
(2) another option is traveling from Dhaka to Chattogram either by road or by air and then from Chattogram to Saint Martin by Cruise Ship. However, this option will allow you to stay only one night at Saint Martin and you need to travel between Thursday and Saturday every week.
(3) travel from Dhaka to Cox’sBazar by road/air, overnight stay at Cox’sbazar, and then get on to cruise ship to Saint Martin from Cox’sBazar on the following morning. On the way back, you need to come back to Cox’sbazar and then board to Dhaka either by road or air. This option is relatively more expensive and has multiple stops but allows to travel by air between Dhaka and Cox’sBazar.
We chose the first option as we plan to stay two nights at Saint Martin Island and wanted to avoid multiple stops.
Other preparations
In my opinion, Saint Martin is more towards feeling Infinity, Individuality, and Serenity over experiencing luxury, relaxation, indulgence, and companionship which are generally related to Cox’sBazar visit.
This is important to get prepared for the Saint Martin excursion in a bit different way. As an island in a tropical region, the weather in Saint Martin is likely to be hot but dry; although you are traveling during the winter. Therefore, you do not require to carry winter clothes too much. Rather, you should take enough comfortable dresses – i.e. t-shirts, shorts, trousers. As for footwear, rubber-made sandals/slippers are the best. Do not forget to take a hat/cap and sunglasses with you. As toiletries, you should take sunscreen, moisturizer, body wash, and shampoo. A water bottle is a must to save you from getting dehydrated. In regard to medication, it is better to take OTC drugs – i.e band-aid, antiseptic cream, muscle relaxant, antipyretic, antihistamine, and PPI for heartburn and gastric acid hypersecretion. I advise avoiding electronic gadgets as much as possible to enjoy the serenity and sound of waves to the fullest. You may take your cell phone for emergency contact and a music playing device with a headphone. Last but not the least, a travel bag that you can carry on your back is the best one; a trolley bag/luggage does not help too much due to rough terrains.
On the way
We started the journey by road from Arambagh Bus Stop at 7:30 pm and reached Teknaf at 6:00 am. We traveled on a sleeper coach considering about 12 hours of journey time – a tough one for a kid. After waiting for 2 hours, we got on the ship at 8:00 am. Those 2 hours waiting was not very comfortable as there was no waiting area for passengers except local restaurants. The toilet facility was also poor. Thankfully, some local people let their toilet to use on a payment. When the ship started moving by swirling the opaque water beneath, it was 9:30 am. We sat in the pearl lounge (air-conditioned dining room on the top floor of Keari Cruise and Dine) for my kid’s comfort. However, I loved standing outside on the deck to bathe in the warm wind with a flock of sea-gulls. It was lovely to enjoy the accompany that the sea-gulls gave us all the way through the Naf river. This river separates Bangladesh and Myanmar and has ended up in the sea. The first one-and-a-half-hour journey was through the Naf river before the ship moved into the Bay of Bengal. At around 12:00 pm, we reached Saint Martin (east side). Well, it was not like the one I experienced about 19 years back; immediately felt the crowdedness, engulfed by modern dwelling structures, a change in livelihood, and more like a tourist place. I will share more about the changes in the latter part of this blog.
At the Island
We hired an autorickshaw to go on the west side, where our hotel is located. After completing the check-in formalities, when we took a breath, it was 1:00 pm. Ahhhhh! what a place to be! What a natural wonder!! All tiredness was swept away in a moment.
We stayed in the Atlantic Resort located on the Island’s south beach. I would rate the resort as moderate, considering room conditions and facilities. Although overpriced, the resort has got a very nice view of the sea, particularly on the second floor. The back area is right at the bank, thus you can sit on the chair/couch or swing on the hammock while the seawater comes as close as within 10 feet during the high tide.
When you will wake up in the early morning it will be high tide; low tide is maximum at noon followed by high tide in the late evening. The best time to experience sea-swimming is between 9 – 11 am when the low tide starts but the water level is still close to the bank. However, if someones want to walk through pellucid water trapped in coral barriers and see different small sea fishes, noontime is the best. The beach is full of stones of different sizes generally made of coral and seashells. Thus, caution should be maintained while you go swimming or walking in ankle-deep water.
Do not forget to take pictures of your happy moments. You may use your own on-phone camera or DSLR camera to capture photos. However, I recommend not to carry your own camera unless you are a photography enthusiast, rather you can hire a local photographer.
There are many photographers at the beach waiting for you to take some cool snaps for a very cheap rate. And, they are quite good at it. We found a young champ who captured all our photos. His name is Shahidul known as Michael. Michael was named after his additional talent of dancing like the legend Michael Jackson. You may negotiate the photography price. Michael agreed to give us selected digital photos from all shots with 3 taka each.
Food
Since you are on an island, It is expected that you will try different seafood throughout your stay. We experienced sea-fish in all our meals. Although the resort had restaurant facilities, we explored other restaurants on the island as well to make sure that our tastebuds do not get tired of the same stimuli. We tasted Lakkha, Coral, Surma, Tuna, Rupchanda, flying fish, Poa, Shrimp etc.