Jumping from Snorkel to Scuba

[bmlbytes]

I panicked spit out my regulator and the guy said i refused to accept it when he was putting it back in my mouth. I completely forgot everything we had gone over and practiced that day.

I'm a fairly new diver myself, but from what I've read, this sounds like a pretty common occurrence for a panicked diver.

It also sounds to me like you were over weighted. Even if your BCD completely fails, you shouldn't have so much weight that it becomes difficult to swim upwards. This is something I struggled with on my first few dives, because I thought I needed that weight to go down. Now I realize that the less weight the better. You're less exhausted, and in an emergency, you can still swim to the surface without having to drop weight.

 

[CDKing80]

It also sounds to me like you were over weighted.

i think that was it. i was having some bouyency issues and was given an extra weight in one of the pockets not long before i started sinking. That and i got way too excited when i saw my first sea turtle.

 

[bmlbytes]

Buoyancy issues might not actually be issues with your weight, but rather issues with your training (which you didn't do much of). When properly weighted, you may still slightly float near the surface. As you go down, it will be easier to stay down. You can go down by exhaling, or by swimming down. You don't need so much weight that you drop like a brick.