My question is, if I start "tech diving" what are my opportunities locally in FL?
Short answer = lots.
BACKGROUND:
Despite there being abundant sites and types of technical diving in Florida, based on your stated goals and questions above I wouldn't feel bad about skipping the tech training. I'd look at simply increasing the frequency and, as you’ve already indicated, expanding the locations of your diving.
I think by now if you really wanted to be a technical diver, you’d already know it. I don't intend that as a divisive or an elitist statement but simply as a cue that your doubts may be well founded for your situation.
To offer contrast, I think we can be great divers without having to commit to technical training. Although my favorite profile is a deep (~60m) Trimix cruise with a DPV along a coral wall with nothing beneath me as far as the eye can see and one or two decompression gases on board, some of my most memorable dives have been at ~10m in a ST configuration breathing regular air and moving under leg power.
What you might consider pursuing is a refresh on your skills. I’d consider hiring an instructor at a daily rate who can assess your proficiency and coach you on improving your foundational skills*. It's almost guaranteed that the small pool of instructors (coaches is probably a better word) who can dramatically but smoothly expedite development of your proficiency is made up of active technical divers.
There’s a parallel concept in the motorsports world.
Every year hundreds and hundreds of licensed, active motorcyclists who are hungry for improvement come to a training course staffed by the USA's top racers (and the EU has the same type of schools). Our goal is NOT to turn the customers into racers. Our goal is to meet each customer where he/she's at in his/her proficiency, share the principles and techniques developed in racing in digestible bites and take the individual through foundational drills on a track to help each individual improve his/her fundamentals at operating a motorcycle.
These premier motorcycle courses are not cheap. In fact, they are WAY WAY more expensive than hiring a really accomplished technical diver at a daily rate. Our course is $2500 - $3000 for two days. That's buckets cheaper than somebody like Jon Kieren, Kyle Harmon, Mark Messersmith or John Kendall at $200-400 per day.
And to be clear, these motorcycle courses don't provide a new license or certification but our customers leave our course with invigorated confidence, renewed focus and a new outlook on their skill trajectory knowing they've received
training from the very best racers in the country (and sometimes our guest instructors are world champions). For almost every customer, their intended application isn't to go racing but simply to improve their operation of the motorcycle by having increased bandwidth in their skills when out on the road.
< soapbox >
I think the big box SCUBA certifying organizations whose profit model is focused on multiplying instructors and maximizing the volume of micro-courses they sell have skewed our perspective that we have to take on a new card-producing course to become better divers. This is wrong. Many of us just want high quality instruction so we can be the best divers possible regardless if the profile is 10m or 100m.
< / soapbox >
* Foundational skills:
- Buoyancy
- Trim
- Breathing
- Propulsion
- Awareness
- Planning
Good luck and enjoy your journey in training and development of your proficiency.