There are over 7,000 islands in the Caribbean, and around 100 of them are populated. With a few weeks left in our year of exploring South America, we decided to finish off in the Caribbean. Of the 13 independent countries in the area, I needed to catch up on the last six, while Chris had a few select islands he wanted to not miss.

It’s not always easy to find direct flights between islands, so we used a combination of ferries, flights, and a cruise to get us to where we needed to be. You can read more about our quest for last-minute cruise tickets here. To find out which islands are connected via ferry, this ferry website turned out very useful. And to see which islands had direct flights to other islands, this Flight Connections website was our pal. The smaller airlines don’t always show up on Skyscanner or Expedia searches, so it’s sometimes worth taking a look to see which airlines fly to lesser-known cities.

Barbados

From its crystal clear waters, to its sandy white beaches, Barbados is a great first stop in the Caribbean. We flew direct from Guyana to Barbados, kicked around for a week in Bridgetown and in Holetown, and then jumped on a cruise ship for a week.

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