Hi Valerie: Remember that your wet suit compresses at depth and you become less bouyant - thats probably why you are having trouble at shallow depths. Also, the longer the dive the more air you use and become more bouyant. Are you using a 7mm wet suit ? So when you are assending, you have both those forces working against you. I would try a little more wieght especially in salt water. You don’t want to sink like an anchor either though. I took the PADI ’Peak Bouyancy" couse . It was very good. I would basically float upside down at depth (wierd) but the instructor and I tryed several combinations. I had all my weight in my BC. I found spreading it out between the BC, Weight belt, and even ankle weights for different situations. This in my opinion is the best elective course to your basic OWD classification. Hope this helps a little. See you around. Note, I will be back in S Carolina Oct 14th. Ted J>