I often come back from a holiday, wishing I could recreate some of the delicious dishes that the local cuisine had to offer. For most people this would just be a matter of looking up the recipe and start cooking. I, however, cannot cook to save my life, so I resort to hunting down restaurants who might offer the dishes.

Seychelles was no different – who knew cabbage salad or mango salad could taste so divine? But the one thing I wish I could have brought home with me from Seychelles, is the SeaPearl Ginger Ale. I don’t normally drink ginger ale, but this ginger ale is not only the best ginger ale I’ve ever tasted, it is also the most refreshing soft drink, I’ve ever come across.

Anyone, who knows me, will know that I’m a massive Coke drinker, but I would switch in a heartbeat, if the SeaPearl Ginger Ale was available in the UK.

We chose Seychelles primarily for its snorkelling, and boy did we go snorkelling! I spent so much time face down in the water that my back is still two shades darker than my face.

We did most of the snorkelling in the bay of Anse Petite Cour on Praslin, straight off the beach of La Reserve hotel. The bay offers calm water and plenty of fish including the beautiful but very defensive Picasso Triggerfish, the spectacular but poisonous Lionfish, Porcupinefish, various species of Butterflyfish and Angel fish, Surgeonfish, Parrotfish, Trumpetfish and many, many more.

We also snorkelled for a few hours off Anse Source D’Argent on La Digue and off a small beach cove at the Hilton Northolme on Mahe. The water at Anse Source D’Argent was a bit cloudy on the day we visited La Digue, so we didn’t see as great a variety of fish as we saw at Anse Petite Cour on Praslin. The beach itself was gorgeous though.

The water at Hilton Northolme was very choppy when we were there, quite low visibility and only suitable for strong swimmers on that particular day. I found the highest concentration of fish around a group of large rocks situated a good distance off the beach, where a massive group of squid nearly spooked my snorkel mask off my face, as they swam across my path.

We found the best snorkelling, though, around Felicite and Isle Coco. We saw the same species of fish as we had seen at Anse Petite Cour, but at a much higher density. I caught a brief glimpse of a ray as it was swimming away from me at Coco island, where we also got to see a sea turtle.

I’ve extracted a few stills from our snorkelling videos, see below. The videos were shot with a dodgy point-and-shoot through an Aquapac, so please excuse the poor quality. I’ll try to put together a small compilation video over the next couple of weeks, so you can get a better feel of the snorkelling opportunities on Seychelles.

As luck would have it, my visit to Seychelles coincides with the Festival Kreol 2010. I’m very much looking forward to the “special welcome” billed for disembarking passengers at the airport on International Creole Day, whatever that may be .

I’m also hoping to experience some of the festival atmosphere in Victoria, as I wait for my ferry to Praslin, and if I get to snap a few photos, I’ll see if I can post them here.

The festival started yesterday and runs till 31 October. The festival’s official web site seems to be having a bad day, but you can also find the programme on the Virtual Seychelles web site.