Apparently there was unintentional interpretation of my design! My intention was that the waves and the structures and the trees in the first half of the level were
off in the distance... you're running around through a flooded, ancient area, the remnants of a once-great civilization, just barely staying above the water's edge, surrounded by flooded trees and buildings. I just played it again under the perception that you're
underwater for this first bit, and it has a remarkably different feeling.
Of course you do go underwater in that bit when you fall through the spires and there's fish and bubbles and stuff.