Why English names? In the 1800s the Galapagos were visited by British whalers. They made some of the navigation charts of this enchanted archipelago. Therefore the islands got the names of British royalty and famous whalers.
"Enderby and Sons" was the name of one of the first whaling companies that came to this part of the Pacific. Champion was a whaler. Captain Colnett, who probably was the responsible one of setting the first barrel in Post Office Bay, was working for "Enderby and Sons". He christened the two islets.
Champion is one of our favorite snorkeling sites during the week. We saw everything from white-tip sharks to sardines. It was particularly good today, especially after Eliot Drucker's lecture on fish locomotion. We learned to enjoy fish from a different perspective.
We changed our usual itinerary, and went to Enderby to look for breeding frigatebirds. And there they were, all very proud of their beautiful red pouches, crowning the steep slopes of this tuff cone.
