I live and work in the Keys because of the awesome diving and would love to have you come dive with
us. There are many very good dive ops in the Keys to choose from (big boats, small boats, techies, hunters, training, advanced diving, new divers, w/ or w/o guides, etc.), each has it's own personality and focus, so read up here on SB for more info, then call the dive ops for a nice chat to get a feel to see if they are a good match for your expectations & abilities. Here is a directory of Keys Ops:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-conch-divers/362149-florida-keys-guide.html
But I agree with sportxlh that the diving in Ft. Lauderdale, Pompano, Boynton Beach, & WPB are awesome. I used to teach in this area.
In Ft. Lauderdale, I been pleased with
Sea Xperience. BTW the shore diving in Ft. Lauderdale (Lauderdale by the Sea, commercial Blvd, etc.) is quite good and you can probably find a local Scubaboarder to show you around.
In Boynton Beach,
Underwater Explorers run/owned by
ScubaKevDM . They are awesome and a favorite of many Scubaboarders.
Further north in WPB area is the
Blue Heron Bridge and lots of great dive charter boat ops who are mentioned often in the FL Conchs forum.
What you will discover is that there isn't enough time to do all the South FL and Keys dives you'd like to do, so come back often!