I've been diving with Patojo's this last week, and they're pretty relaxed about dive practices once they know they can trust you. It's common for divers running low on air to surface ahead of the rest of the group, and so long as there are at least two people on the surface it doesn't matter whether they're dive buddies.
Outside the reef we rarely have much current, and never to an extent that would make you allow for it, other than in the direction you dive. Inside Hol Chan it can be very different.
We have had moderately poor visibility and a lot of surge lately, certainly in the past week. The surge was unusual in that it rarely changed with depth. But the diving was still good.