It was a beautiful bright day. The intense glow of the afternoon sun were glistening on the waves of the violent sea. That flash was so sharp that one can not glimpse it constantly. Suddenly, I heard a buzz going around. Everyone was saying that there’s the St. Martin’s island! I assembled with them and discovered a small island was gradually appearing in front of my eyes. Yes, this is the nostalgic St. Martin's Island.
My first trip to St. Martin's Island was more than a decade ago. At that time few traveler used to come and visit this place. At that time St. Martin was full of natural resources and beauty. There were innumerable coconut trees and gigantic corals to protect island from any natural catastrophe. Remembering all those good old memories of last travel, I set foot on St. Martin’s Island in the afternoon.
I was shocked when docked on St. Martin’s Island. Abundant plastic bottles and rubbish have been dumped on the shores of St. Martin. Unconcerned tourists are polluting the environment by throwing scrap here and there, despite having a dustbin everywhere. I tried my best to keep my mind away from these thoughts and focus on traveling and enjoying the beauty of the sea shore, because I always like the sea.
After lunch I went out in the afternoon to visit the village of the island. In fact, watching the current environment of the village here made me feel very disastrous because it was totally different from my last visit. Many trees have now been cut down to make cottage for tourist and the space for cultivation has been dwindled. The people of the village here now barely cultivate. They now buy their required commodities from Teknaf at higher prices. However, after sightsee the village, I returned to the sea beach because the island is encircled by sea. As I was walking along the beach, found some sea fish. Sharing some pictures of those.
The last part of my Saint Martin’s island trip was visiting Seradip. The last time I came to St. Martin I had to go to Seradip by trawler and this time I went by autorickshaw. However, I had to get off the auto rickshaw and went rest of the journey by trawler to reach the island. Large coral rocks were piled up all over the place. This island is really remarkable.
Last but not least, the island of St. Martin has been confounded by unwanted activities of the tourists who used to came here. Talking to the local residents, I realized that they are determined to protect the environment of St. Martin’s Island, but the tourists who come here are constantly eradicating that environment. Hopefully the situation will end soon and people will behave like real tourists.