Spectacular Moorea Dive for complete newbie?

[sokalled]

I was certified yesterday.
I have never dove in the ocean, off a boat, in a current, in saltwater, or in water below 75º F
Going to Moorea in a few weeks, staying at the Hilton.
Which dive shop is easily accessible and reccomneded?
Which dive locations should I be interested in?
If conditions were primo, I would be willing to go to around 66'.
If conditions are poor (current, cold) I'd stay above 50'.
Taking advantage of this oppertunity to dive with friendly sharks is important to me.
Please Advise, thank you.

 

[yogibeanie]

I stayed at that resort 2 years ago. I did my very first dive there. The Hilton has a dive operation on site, I recommend them. I was not certified so I did the simplest of dives, but saw some cool fish you didn't see snorkeling. There were 2 certified divers on the boat and they got to go to a different dive site and they said they saw huge school of eagle rays. I'm sure there are plenty of sharks around. I did the snorkel trip where you swam with sharks and sting rays. The water was very warm, perfect. You'll have lots of fun.

 

[TSandM]

I don't know about other operations, but I would avoid TopDive Moorea.

A friend of ours had a very bad accident, reboarding their boat. They had left the boat unattended, and the way the deck was set up, it was easy to lose your balance and fall into what I believe was an engine housing, which is what happened to my friend. She destroyed her shoulder in the fall (had to have a shoulder replacement).

Two weeks later, when WE dove with them, they had changed nothing -- they still left the boat unattended, so the first divers back had no assistance reboarding, and they had done nothing to reduce the risk of falling or hitting the engine housing -- no added grab rail or anything to address the cause of the accident. I was profoundly unimpressed by this. We also found the personnel less than delightful -- this was the boat where the INSTRUCTOR who was in charge made public fun of me and my husband for doing a buddy check (and no, there was NO hurry on getting into the water).

 

[Merlin_AZ]

I dove off Moorea the beginning of June.
We were on a cruise.
The coral wasn't as nice as we were expecting, possibly as a result of a starfish issue in the past few years.
We did have some black-tip sharks follow us for a while.
http://youtu.be/rVoPCjIoQmU