St. Martin's Island

Saint Martin Island  is a small island (area only 3 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 Chera Dwip. It is about 8 kilometres (5 miles) west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at the mouth of the Naf River.

Millennia ago, the island used to be an extension of the Teknaf peninsula, but at a later time some portion of this peninsula got submerged and thus the southernmost part of the aforementioned peninsula became an island, and was disconnected from the Bangladesh mainland. The first settlement started 250 years ago, in 18th century, by Arabian merchants who named the island 'Jazira'. During British occupation the island was named after the then Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Mr. Martin as St. Martin Island.^[3] Likely because one or more of the Arabs were Saint and whose name could not be identified. Local names of the island are "Narikel jinjira"^[4] which means 'Coconut Island', and "Daruchini Dwip" which means "Cinnamon island". It is the only coral island in Bangladesh.

The island makes up the Saint Martin's Union Parishad. It has 9 villages/areas:

• Paschim Para (Western Neighbourhood)
• Deil Para
• Uttar Para (Northern Neighbourhood)
• Majher Para (Middle Neighbourhood)
• Purba Para (Eastern Neighbourhood)
• Konar Para (Edge Neighbourhood)
• Nazrul Para (Neighbourhood of Nazrul)
• Golachipa (literally "narrow neck")
• Dakkhin Para (Southern Neighbourhood)

Saint Martin Island has become a tourist spot, and Eight shipping liners run daily trips to the island. Nowadays, tourist has become friendly to Eco tourism. Consequently, eco friendly resort- Josnaloy Beach Resort has become popular to them. Tourists can book their trip either from Chittagong or from Cox's Bazar. The surrounding coral reef has an extension named Chera Dwip. A small bush is there, which is the only green part. People do not live on this part, so it is advisable for the tourists to go there early and come back by afternoon.

A number of efforts have been proposed to preserve the several endangered species of turtles that nest on the island, as well as the corals, some of which are found only on Narikel Jinjira. Pieces of the coral reef are being removed to be sold to tourists. Nesting turtles are sometimes taken for food, and their hatchlings are often distracted by the twinkling lights along the beach. Fish, a few recently discovered, are being overfished. Every year the fishermen must venture further out to sea to get their catch. Most of them use motorless boats.

It is possible to walk around the island in a day because it measures only 8 km2 (3 sq. mile), shrinking to about 5 km2 (2 sq. mi) during high tide. The island exists only because of its coral base, so removal of that coral risks erosion of the beach.

Saint Martin lost 70% of its coral reef between 1980 and 2018 due to anthropogenic factors.