If you want to avoid the same spots over and again it has alot more to do with the Captain driving the boat than anything a person in the shop tells you, as they aren't running the boat. This is the biggest problem with dive shops in the area, poor communication across the spectrum of their operations. I say that based on my experience working for the Dive Locker as a Captain and my interactions with the rest of the boat Captains from the other shops, we talk on the radio while you guys are diving and often before hand to make sure there aren't going to be 100 divers on a site.
Dive Locker and Panama City Dive Center have cattle boats that they have no problem taking you to the same spots over again. The Dive Locker also has some 6 pack operations and Iwould try tp book on those before the cattle boat if you have dove the "popular" stuff already. Then their are us independent Captains like myself, Better Bottom Time and Downtime charters. Frankly we are independent because of all the shenanigans at the shops and don't like things falling between the cracks between the person taking a phone call and the charter. If you need to rent gear you will need to rent from a shop and book with us seperately, less convenient for the customer but we more interaction with them and hopefully deliver better service.
When I travel out of town and take a charter I ask how often the Captain dives, and where he would go if it were his day off. 6 packs offer that level of flexibility where as a cattle boat especially if it has students, will default to the same places over and again. There are only so many wrecks "inshore" for 20 people to dive on at the same time.
