[Baz]

Yo Bill.....

I spent a week on Moorea over Christmas 2003.

I don't speak any language other than English and I did OK. I stayed at the Club Bali Hai where most of the staff speaks English so that helped.

I did notice elsewhere there are many who do not speak English but it wasn't a problem if you know how to make hand gestures and such.

I'm glad I went just for the experience but thought the place had been compromised a bit by the tourist industry. That said there was still a lot of natural beauty for me to enjoy and that was my takeaway.

There are a lot of places on the various islands I did not experience so my perspective is based only on Moorea.

I had my surfboard stolen off the top of my rental car the night I was leaving too. This was in Papeete where the main airport is - so be very careful to keep your stuff nearby and within' sight at all times.

Most of the places there are set up to give excursions for tourists. We did a Motu picnic which also included snorkeling with black tipped reef sharks and rays, which was very cool.

Happy to provide more info if you'd like. Otherwise those are a few thoughts/perspectives off the top of my head.