I've been out with Panama City Diving, Diver's Den and Panama City Dive Center.
They all are good operators. I probably like Panama City Diving the best since they have a nice stable boat which will be nice to have in the winter... its a Newton. However, they seem to cater to spear-fishers and advanced divers if you aren't going out with a shop that has already booked the full boat.
If you want to go diving no matter what, Panama City Dive Center seems to be one of the last to cancel if marine conditions get rough. There are a couple of sites in the bay that they'll go to if the Gulf is really ugly. The bay sites are not pretty, but at least you'll get wet.
I've only been out with Diver's Den twice. The captain was willing to help divers switch over gear during the SI on both those trips. I don't know if that is typical of if the captain was particularly service-oriented those days. The boat I was on had a really narrow beam so was pretty bouncy in rough seas.
If marine conditions are not good for diving, you can hire a guide and beach dive St Andres Jetties at slack high tide. I've never done that, but its been my contingency plan on each trip, that I haven't had to use.
If you're willing to drive to Destin, I really really like Scuba Tech and have been out with that operator many times. Destin also has a number of reefs (PCB is only wrecks and bridge spans): the reefs in Destin are not overly big like the ones in the Keys or West Palm Beach, but they are full of life. The crew on Scuba Tech's boat helps switch over gear during the surface interval: they also put a dive guide in the water as part of the standard price. You don't have to use the guide, but it is a nice service.
Water temps will probably be chilly.... check out each shop's website since some of them have temp estimators (I can't recall which shop has that function on their website). I'd be freezing in a 3MM..... I dive a 5MM in the Gulf during the summer so probably would use a 7 with a good hood in the winter