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Dubai is the opposite!
Pool=chilled (wetsuit required)
Sea temperature=35C (no wetsuit)
... But the viz for 1+2 was awful. 3+4 (in Musandam, Oman) was much better - and still warm, with thermoclines bringing the temp down to 20s (Celcius).
For me the difference was the freedom and space to move. The confined water was, well, confined. My instructor had me so well prepared that rolling off the boat was a breeze. The viz was around 50' and I could see the bottom (first dive had a bottom of 35'). It kind of felt like a REALLY big pool.
Second dive was a little freaky. A group of divers was at the site and they brought food for the fish. I did a free descent. As I held my inflator hose above my head and dumped air, all the fish swarmed in and started nibbing my hand. I guess they thought I was holding up food. Totally lost track of the instructor and the bottom for a few seconds. Once the fish realized I had no food they disappeared and I was fine.
I did my pool diving, per my instructors advice, in a we suit. My OW was in Aruba sans suit. It was about depth and not having anyone to hold my hand... My pool training was 1-on-1. My first OW dive with with 9 other people! My buddy was the DI, and he had his hands full watching over the group of vacation divers. I wasn't happy unless his fins were slapping me in the face. I knew how to put my mask back on
My first OW dive was in Morrison Springs, FL... the pool was a 'smallish' shop pool in a place called "Skipper's Dive Shop" in Pennsacola...
Let's see...
Small pool to (at the time) BIG spring...
10 ft. bottom to... "it goes down HOW far??"
Warm-ish pool to 'COLD-ish" spring
Indoors to ... "we're riding in the back of a pickup truk... in winter... in wetsuits"
Did ya' know wetsuits (old or new)... are nastier to get back into after the first dive when it's cold outside???
Fish...
No clorine...
... and then there's that marvelous feeling ya' get when you realize the 'training wheels' have just been removed from yer' bike...
That was 38 years ago... seems like yesterday...
... and THEN there was the transition from the nice freshwater spring to the ocean for OW dives 3 and 4 (I might mention here that I was a "midwestern boy" and this was exactly my... ummm... FIRST time ever in saltwater)... for the second series of dives... in which we discovered...
current
surge
low vis
REALLY COLD WATER (full wet suit short a left glove... didn't know hands actually turned that color)
salt water
salt water bouyancy
trying to deal with a buddy and navigage with all of this...
more riding in the back of a pickup in a wetsuit... with light snow flying...
We haven't ever done any instruction in a pool, instead doing our "confined" parts of OW and Rescue in some calm water off a beach on Maui. Hadn't ever been diving in a pool until we had nearly 100 dives, and had completed AOW and Rescue...and we simply hit the pool to check out gear prior to a trip.
Thermocline, assorted aquatic life but mostly getting used to clearing the ears and different ways of doing so. Mainly learning quickly to constantly clear ears before you REALLY need to.
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