Jackie,
I don't know the level of detail that you want, so I'll make a pass at it an you can follow-up with questions.
I flew Air Tahiti Nui out of LAX. It's a little over 8 hours into Papeete, leaving close to midnight and arriving around 6:00AM. In January, Papeete is 5 hours behind the US Northeast. Usually there is a morning flight that goes to Rangiroa on Air Tahiti (the domestic airline) and then continues on to Fakarava or elsewhere. How you choose to do it is up to you, but there are almost daily flights from Rangiroa to Fakarava, whereas if you want to fly from Fakarava to Rangiroa, there might be only one flight a week that goes that way. Otherwise, to go from Fakarava to Rangiroa, you have to fly back to Papeete, probably overnight there, and then fly to Rangiroa the next morning. This is of course a very fluid thing and could change by the time you go.
Hawaiian Airlines also has flights to Papeete from Honolulu, but I think they only have flights 1-2X a week. I mean, it's a good way to get two paradises in one trip, but having done it once, I hesitate to recommend doing it this way because if your bags don't make it (that's what happened to me once), the first thing they are going to say is to wait until their next flight arrives, which could be a few days or a week later.
Upon arrival in Papeete, and after retrieving your bags, you may wish to get some money exchanged. If you arrive on a weekend, the bank at the airport is not open. Since I have never arrived on a weekday, I don't even know if it ever opens. Some banks in town open til around noontime on Saturdays, so it is possible to go into town to get money exchanged - that gets you the best rate. There are cash exchange machines as well as ATMs at the airport. In a pinch, that may not be a bad alternative, but again, that does not usually get you the best rate. When I was there, with the USD as strong as it is now, we were getting around 95xpf to the dollar. In past trips, it was in the mid-80's to the dollar. The cash exchange machines take only new bills. Also there is a transaction fee that gets deducted automatically for every $1000 USD that you exchange.
Some places will take USDs, but offer a pittance of an exchange rate. Best to ask first, but to be safe, I always get some local currency. Also, if using credit cards, ask first if there is a surcharge.
Also worth noting is that the sidewalks in Papeete are almost literally rolled-up after noontime on Saturdays. Only a few shops remain open. Most shops remain closed until Monday morning.
Another noteworthy thing is that there is a luggage storage facility next to one of the exchange machines. This is convenient in that if you were to go into town for whatever the reason, you don't have to lug your dive gear with you all the way into town. And if you have time to spare, then you can take the pubic bus by walking up to the road and waiting for one to show up rather than cabbing it to town. What you pay the cab more than pays for the luggage storage fee, subject to how many bags you have and what size.
Air Tahiti (the domestic airline) is somewhat restrictive on check-in luggage. Their website says 50 lbs. and an additional 11 lbs if you can show evidence of being a diver, for a total of 61 lbs. Not bad - except that in my case, I usually have two carry-ons and both are loaded with camera stuff. You're only allowed one carry-on so then the second one becomes "luggage". If you whine about the fragile nature of your camera gear, they will allow you to gate- check it, but they will still weigh it and that also counts against the 61 lbs total. If your carry-on is like my carry-on, you might have to pay, altho some counter agents are kind-hearted and let you go if it isn't outrageously over.
On this past trip, I did not stay in Rangiroa. On a past trip, I stayed at the Raira Lagon Hotel and dove with the legendary Yves Lefevre at Raie Manta Dive Club. I wouldn't do it any other way on my next trip, but that's just my opinion. I'm sure others have had marvelous experiences staying elsewhere and diving with other operators.
There are many other choices of lodging and dive operators. Raira Lagon is a good compromise between the ultra expensive resorts and the pensions or bed and breakfast type of places. It is air-conditioned and has hot water and the onsite restaurant is quite good. Usually they will quote you a room and board price that includes breakfast and dinner. You're on your own as far as lunch but they do serve lunch.
There are two passes that are dived in Rangiroa: the most popular one is Tiputa Pass, and for shark, dolphins, mantas and other pelagics sightings, it is indeed the best one of the two. The other one is Avatoru and it is a good site to see Silvertips.
Fakarava has a village in the north and a much smaller village in the south that is now basically the Tetamanu Resort. In the south, there are just a couple of choices for places to stay: Tetamanu Resort and Tetamanu-Sauvage are associated with each other, and the other one I can't remember the name. I've only stayed at Tetamanu Resort and used their in-house dive operation. The accommodations are a bit rustic but the diving is well-worth it. I wouldn't do it any other way the next time either, altho you could dive the south while staying in the north. The operator just needs to get enough people - usually four - to make it worth his while to do the trip. It is about 1 1/2 hours ride each way, so of course it will cost you more. Likewise, it is also possible to dive the atoll of Toau from the north as a day trip.
In the north, there are numerous pensions and possibly one hotel that used to be the MaiTai and later became the White Sand. I didn't pass by there this time so I don't know if White Sand is still in operation. I've stayed mostly at the Tokerau Village Pension. Their bungalows are fairly new, and they have hot water and mosquito nets. Because Tokerau was closed for vacation when I went, on this last trip I stayed at the Havaiki Pearl Resort. If you search recent postings in this forum, you will find what I wrote on Havaiki.
For diving, I've always used Fakarava Diving Center, and you've already seen my comments above and perhaps in prior postings.
Both passes are good diving: on the incoming tide, the southern pass has over 100 Grey Reefs swimming in the pass. If you look carefully, sometimes you might see a few Silvertips or Black Tips (C. Limbatus, not the Reef Black Tip) intermixed with the Grey Reefs. The outer wall dives feature very nice coral formations and a lot of fish near the mouth of the pass, but I've not seen a lot of pelagic activity in the few dives that I've made out there. Swimming with the incoming current towards the resort, you may see a lot of large size Napoleon Wrasses, schools of different fish, and Reef Black Tips.
The Northern Pass is a much wider pass. For all I know, there may be more sharks up there than in the south, but with the pass being so wide, they are more spread out. On a rare occasion, you may be able to see the Grey Reefs in big schools like in the South, but I've only seen that once in the four trips I've made there. Along the outer reef there are manta and shark cleaning stations - not a guaranteed sighting, but.....
On this last trip, we were fortunate also to get three glimpses of the Greater Hammerhead. They tend to be seen a lot more often in the December/January timeframe. While they are probably there yearround, they are probably deep at other times of the year. In Rangiroa, they are also seen more frequently around that timeframe because it is Eagle Ray mating season. The problem also is that they are extremely shy, so getting a good picture is not easy unless they happen to be feeding. In Bimini, they bring them in with bait and that's how people can get the nice head-on shots.
Hope this helps.
