Hi Cobra269- I love reading that it's the first time for someone heading to Coz, as you will in a few years. It always brings back the excitement I had at first experiencing this fabulous spot to dive.
I did exactly what you are doing, scanning every site on diving Coz, the restaurants, rereading about accommodations after I booked, reading every forum thread I could find. And buying maps and fish id cards. What a rush getting prepped for there.
Back to your question, for me I am a freak for caves or confined spaces so The devils throat I love and must do everytime I'm there. However I love the pinnacles also for there swim throughs and spectacular visuals. I love to take pictures so obviously macro stuff is on my list too, so hitting the shallows is way cool.
When you get on the boat and the dm says, "where we goin'." Thats when the discussion really begins about your dive sites. A concensus if you will. The dm usually gives reminders of the critters at each site or will give a description of the dive sites that are being narrowed down. I really love this part of diving, usually there is a lot of joking around.
Also the dm will want to know how comfortable his charges are for certain sites, usually the boats try to load divers of similiar skills. For me it doesnt matter who I did with on the boat. I kinda dive solo. Too much picture shooting and sculking around for little things to worry about someone else. My bad for making sure I have enough gas always. Checking my spg is like a nervous tick for me. 4-5 times a minute.
So you may get on a boat with a guy or girl like me or a diver thats never been in the ocean before. Thats the cool part, not knowing.
Record your dive sites quickly after diving, write down what you saw. And get back here with it. Deal.
I wish you good dives and sunny days. kev