I hoping to go to Tahiti at the beginning of July and I would appreciate any advice you can give me. I have almost no information about Tahiti, not even how much it costs to stay there. I saw a travel agent today and he is going to email an itinerary in the next couple of days. Anything I should be aware of?
Yeah, the main island where you will land doesn’t have the prettiest beaches. I mean they’re OK, but if you want the real brilliant white sand beaches you’ll have to move to one of the other islands. The closest is Morea and the ferry takes about an hour to get there (from memory).
If you speak a little French it will help a lot in getting to know the locals, as many don’t speak English (shops are fine of course). But the people are really friendly and go out of their way to help tourists.
I don’t speak a word of French 
I told the travel agent that I wanted to go surfing, so he’s going to tailor my trip to that.
OK, well I was 22 or so when I went and it was a surfing trip too. I went with a buddy of mine. The main island has some good waves because its not protected by atoll reefs, so you can get some pretty hairy rides. I didn’t get to all the other islands, just Moorea and because Moorea is an atoll, there’s not so much surf there.
Don’t worry about speaking french, although not everyone speaks English, enough people do, you’ll be OK. The local people were awesome, picking us up by the side of the road and driving us places, even when we weren’t asking for a lift - they just volunteered. A group of young teenagers who lived together took us in for free and fed us with fish they went out and caught in the morning. They didn’t speak English and my French was very weak, but we managed to have fun. Peopel helped us out all over the place - driving us to repair stations when our motorbike broke down. They were great.
You don’t have to go to Moorea for nice beaches. There are a number of other islands near Tahiti that are simply gorgeous. I loved Rangiroa, and Maupiti. You can also try Bora Bora, upon which “Bali Hai” in the South Pacific movie was allegedly based.
IMHO the main island of Tahiti is no big deal. You have to start there because that’s where the airport is, but I’d get off to one of the smaller islands pronto. I found the people in Papeete for the most part to be like Parisians, except without the city of Paris. The farther away I got, the nicer the local people were.
I can only echo MLS. I also found Papeete to be bustling and busy on a very small (geographic) scale. A small, bustiling city with a nice harbor and airport.
Rent a car and drive a few miles outside the city, or take “le truck” (sort of a local jitney service) up to Belvidere, or to other areas outside the town, and it’s very pretty.
The Gauguin Museum isn’t too far from Papeete, and was interesting, but surprisingly there were no actual Gauguin paintings there. His influence and places where he lived are pointed out all over the island, but the museum can’t afford even one.
As MLS said, the island of Tahiti has “black sand” beaches.
Getting to the other islands was much better, at least to me. My favorites were probably Huahine, Raiatea and Rangiroa. Huahine had gorgeous beaches, flowers, a quiet, laid back feel.
At Raiatea we visited a vanilla farm and it was fascinating to see how they pollinate the plants using a paintbrush (no bees), pile the vines on cement posts and dry the harvested vanilla pods on their roof.
Rangiroa was incredible for snorkeling and seeing how people live on a coral atoll. Bora Bora was nice, but a bit more “touristy” than the others. The French influence is everywhere. My favorite was seeing all the homes with tubes/newspaper holders by the road for the delivery of the daily baguettes. Having loaves of bread delivered just seemed so sensible.
It’s one of those places I would love to return to
I paid for my trip. It’s actually going to happen! I’ll staying for ten nights. Seven nights at Manava Suite Resort Tahiti in Papeete and three nights at Moorea Pearl Resort & Spa in an Overwater Bungalow Room.
I definitely need to go surfing. I always wanted to learn how and about two years ago I went to Hawaii to try it but I chickened out for fear of looking stupid. I can’t make the same mistake.
Are there any particular travel books I should buy? Any particular sights to see?
Any nude beaches? 
What’s the food situation? I’m not a fan of seafood. WIll I have to go hungry for 10 days?
Any dangerous areas I should avoid?