I've been certified for 17 years, but unfortunately, I average about 1 dive every 3 years. I got certified in Wisconsin when I was 12, and did my cert dive in Devil's Lake, which is a clear spring fed lake with almost nothing to see at the bottom besides a few bass and a couple of big soft shelled turtles. It had been so long since I had dove that I got retrained in college during my freshman year by doing the training in a swimming pool during swimming class (it was fun to blow bubbles up at the people doing laps as myself and one other guy were both already certified and liked to mess with the swim class). Unfortunately, diving is EXPENSIVE and requires that you are somewhere where you can dive (I'm not much of a wreck diver, which is about all you can do in Illinois) so I only go when I'm on vacation and can find someone else to go with.