One of the cruise ships sailing for the St Martin's Island — FE photo COX'S BAZAR, Nov 1: As many as three cruise ships left for St. Martin's Island on Friday heralding start of the tourism season at the small island in the Bay of Bengal, the southernmost part of Bangladesh.
The three ships were carrying over 1,000 tourists on board mostly hailing from Dhaka and Chattogram to pass their leisure time at the country's lone coral island, about nine kilometres south of the tip of Cox's Bazar-Teknaf peninsula.
Local tourists usually do not visit the island during the seven months of high tides from April each year. It is about eight kilometres west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at the mouth of the Naf River.
"This is our first journey and would like to enjoy a couple of choppy days there," said Doctor Farhana, a newly-wed woman, talking to the FE at the Teknaf point before the ships left for St. Martin's at 9:30 am.
"We have heard about the blue water there and scenic beauty along the bordering area with Myanmar," she said.
The three ships are the Keari Cruise Daine, The Atlantic and the MV Farhan, each having a carrying capacity of over 300 passengers and offering state-of the-art facilities.
When contacted, Keari Cruise Daine senior executive officer Noor Mohammad told the FE: "We got good response from tourists for the first trip of this season."
He said more than 300 tourists were on board the ship on its maiden trip on Friday.
He expressed hope that the number of Saint Martin's goers would increase within a few days.
The executive said that the fare remained as usually with a round trip costing Tk 1,000-Tk 1,400 per head.
Tourists stay few days at the island where they eat sea fish, coconut and do cycling apart from sunbath.
At least 15 multi-storied hotels are there now in the island, although many tourists say most of the hotels they had booked had charged higher rents.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) of Cox's Bazar Ashraful Afsar said that the district administration had given permission to four cruise ships till Thursday for carrying tourists on the Teknaf-Saint Martin's sea route for the current season.
"We actually verify whether they are fit or not. The ships we have allowed are Keari Sindbad, Keari Cruise Daine, The Atlantic and MV Farhan."
The permission for the ships would be valid through March 15 next year, he said.
The tourists of Saint Martin's also visit Chera Dwip, a beautiful small island which is another attraction near the St. Martin's.
Saint Martin's union council chairman Noor Ahmed said the coral island now is ready to welcome the tourists as it is the means of livelihood of many local people.
"The hoteliers have been preparing for the season for the last couple of months by decorating their premises and rooms."
The local govt representative said the law and order situation of his island is very good. "One police camp and one BGB camp have been established to avert any unwanted situation", he said.
On the other hand, a large number of tourists arrived in the beach town of Cox's Bazar on Friday to spend the weekly holidays.
When contacted, Operation Officer of the hotel Long Beach Masud Rana said that 60 per cent of rooms of his hotel had been booked.
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