Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
One thing you can do is to hire your own private DM for a regular dive; most dive sites have shallower sections that you could dive separately from a group who is going deeper. CAVEAT: I have read many accounts on Scubaboard of people doing that but I don't know the mechanics of how to make it happen.
When we go out on a boat with Jungle Divers it's always on a Charro boat. The first dive - like everyone else - is deep. So we just stay at the top of the reef or Stef guides us to shallower areas. Some people might find those particular dives to be boring, to be honest. We have found ourselves going across some long stretches of sand that look like an underwater desert. But one of those dives is also where Roger found a tiny baby octopus, stranded a few feet from the grass, on a patch of sand. (Still wonder if he ever found his way to safety). We also tend to stay at the top of the walls, which means we run a fair chance of sighting an eagle ray.
And of course the second dive is usually a shallow reef dive, and those are very nice. 
