I second avoiding top dive on any island. I also think splitting between an island and an atoll will give you the most for your money and time, as they are so different in every way pretty much, and are each beautiful in their own right.
Make sure you are very clear about your dive level and comfort zones, because a drift through the pass at current is not for beginners. However, the reef dives near/on the edge of the pass are wonderful and beautiful and just fine for beginners.
In Fakarava, you won't see dolphin but you will see spectacular coral. In Rangi, you should see dolphin each dive. Tikehau is another option, and is also beautiful with pink coral beaches and you can walk motu to motu. I would dive with Fakarava Dive Center or Dive Spirit on Fakarava, on Rangi, Yaka Plongee or Raie Manta (and I believe Frank was working as DM for RM recently as Yves and Livia, the owners, were out of the country on safari) or on TIkehau, also Raie Manta. If you can get Yves as your DM, then I would choose Raie Manta, but if he is gone, then Yaka Plongee.
I would also choose a pension in Rangi, and our favorite is Tevahine Dream, the owner is beyond helpful and the food is wonderful He will also take you wherever you want to go as well, if you wish, at no cost. He has 3 beach bungalows, and 2 garden ones with lap pools. He has small fridges that actually keep stuff cold in each bungalow, and they are open air and the way he has built and situated them makes it so we were never hot while staying there. There is also a small hotel/pension Rara Lagoon, and those bungalows have AC. They also have a restaurant/bar which sits on the lagoon, so only one bungalow is on the lagoon/beach, the rest are garden bungalows. Both those places are similarly priced. We did stay once at Kia Ora, but it was too resorty and large and kinda felt colt to us. Currently, there are some issues with ownership and they may be bought by some Japanese that were consdering. If bought, I would expect things to improve at Kia Ora. Rangi has the largest variety of restaurants/snack shops to try off resort or off pension, and also has 3 general purpose markets plus a smaller local one that is even open on Sundays generally. The villages are not as pretty as in Fakarava or TIkehau. But they ahve the largest amount of variety.
In Rangi, the blue lagoon excursion is nice, but make sure you take water shoes as you need them in Rangi for sure. There is also reef island excursion you can do.
In Tikehau, we have stayed at Ninamu, Pearl Beach, and RElais royale. Each was nice, but Ninamu is special and consider that with Ninamu's pricing, you get all meals included and pretty much all activities you want to try other than diving is also included. Relais Royale has a few beach bungalows and then a couple channel bungalows, the beach bungalows are definitely nicer there. I believe they are for sale though, so I am not sure if Monique still runs it. Breakfast and Lunch are included, and you can walk across the channel to the main village if you wish, you can also walk the other direction and go motu exploring, crossing channels, and get quite close to Pearl Beach I expect. The main village is tiny, and very pretty, and has a small market. Owner speaks French, but we have always communicated fine with her. There are no restaurants off resort/pension in Tikehau.
In TIkehau, there is a manta cleaning station you can dive or snorkel at, it is shallow, probably will see Manta there, but the water can be quite murky. Still a cool experience if you've never done so.
In Fakarava we stay at the Havaiki Guest House, like a small hotel, the beach bungalows have AC but it faces West so can be very hot in the afternoon. However the views are spectacular, the meals are wonderful, and the Fakarava village is really delightful. You can take the guest house bikes and explore if you wish, which we always do. There is a nice snack shop there where we often ate lunch, right on the beach, reasonably priced. There's also a snack shop at Havaiki, but it is more expensive than the one in the village. This is at the North Pass. You can also stay on the South, but the pensions there are less to choose from and I don't believe the individual bungalows have electricity. For us, the diving in NOrth pass was wonderful and we did not miss not going to South Pass, as we felt it was a bit too rustic for our preferences. It is popular with many, however. Ramiti is one option over there, but again, we didn't think it was for us.
In Moorea, Pearl is a very nice option and I think the Pearl resorts offer a good value for what you pay. In fact, if you chose Moorea and Tikehau, Pearl is at both and sometimes they offer good deals like stay 3 one free, breakfasts included, etc. We have just switched to pensions because we prefer a more local experience and the prices are better overall making yearly trips there doable for us.
So, in Moorea, we stayed at Fare Miti and also Pension Motu Iti. Both were nice, but Fare Miti has a kitchenette with a real fridge, and motu iti does not even have a cooler type fridge, and we rented a car while there so we could explore as we chose. Breakfast and dinner are available options at motu iti, and we did that and the food was very good and reasonably priced. At Fare Miti, she will bring around bread in the am, very cheap, and there's a fruit stand across the street. You can also order dinner from a nearby snack/restaurant, and can also walk to some from Fare Miti, but meals are not included. THe Lagoonarium was also fun, and we did go up Belvedere which was pretty cool as well. We dove iwth Moorea Fun Dive, but the other suggested dive op also has a good reputation. Again, I would just avoid topdive.
Also, and this is just our preference, but I would take the ferry over to Moorea and stand out on top so you can see the approach. Fast ride, gorgeous views, inexpensive way to get there. Car rental if you want to do that is right there at the ferry docks also, once you arrive in Moorea.
Have fun planning!!
Our dive level is still fairly beginner, we are at about 70 dives now, with most of those being in French Polynesia on the atolls of TIkehau, Rangiroa and Fakarava. We just have always made clear our experience level and have had no problems other than our very first dive after certification dives. But that was our own fault really. WE got certified in Bora Bora and then did our first dive in Tikehau, and should have been more clear about that. However, the guy no longer works at a dive shop and we are very happy with Raie Manta in TIkehau. There is also TIkehau Plongee, but we prefer Raie Manta. Often, the more experienced divers will go with one guide,a nd we will go with another. The boats aren't very large, and it's not really anything like those cattle massive group dives some locations have. We do try to avoid cruise day, but you won't find cruise ships in Tikehau, and most cruisers pick top dive or six passenger anyway on Rangi and Top dive on Fakarava.
